Blooming Kids

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Friendly staff greet children when they arrive at the setting. This makes children feel welcome and gives them a sense of belonging. Staff are caring and sensitively soothe the youngest children. They ensure that they are available to meet their emotional needs, and the children go to them for comfort.

Staff respect and value the children as individuals. They encourage children to be helpful to each other and generously praise their positive behaviour. This creates an environment of respect. Children are polite and demonstrate friendly behaviour towards each other. For instance, staff ask children to put their shoes on before they go outside. Children notice when their friends need help to do this. They offer support and help their friends to put their shoes on their feet. When praised for this by staff, they show a sense of pride in their kind behaviour.

Staff ensure the children have daily access to the garden. They set the garden up with a range of activities that support children's learning in all areas. Children love being outdoors in the fresh air and move around with pleasure and confidence. With meaningful interactions from staff, the children are encouraged to be imaginative during their play. For example, children pretend to sell ice creams to each other. Staff share their enthusiasm and pretend to hold and lick the ice creams. They encourage back-and-forth interactions about what their favourite ice cream is. Children engage in make-believe play by pretending, and their communication and language skills are supported well.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• The curriculum is well considered to support children in specific areas that need to be addressed at that time. This means children progress in line with their abilities and move forward in their development. Staff plan activities that are centred around the children's interests and that support the curriculum intent. Children become active in their learning; they show curiosity and find out by exploring.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and staff know the children well and know how best to support them. They work together with parents and devise tailored plans to support the children's individual needs. Furthermore, activities are planned and adapted, where necessary, to ensure that all children are included. This means children with SEND make good progress in their learning.
• Children follow routine hygiene practices. They wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet. Some children cover their mouths when coughing and use tissues to wipe their noses independently. However, not all staff are consistent when reinforcing self-care skills. Therefore, hygiene performance and practices are not fully promoted for children. This does not support children's understanding of what keeps them healthy and well.
• Children are active in their learning and enthusiastic about joining in with activities. For example, they become engrossed when exploring what happens when they mix different ingredients together to make 'puffy paint'. Staff support the children's learning and ask them thought-provoking questions. However, at times, staff do not give children enough time to respond and develop ideas for themselves. This does not fully support and challenge their thinking skills further.
• Managers are committed to continually improving the setting for staff, children and their families. Staff supervision is regular, and they express that they feel well supported. Staff have opportunities to enhance their learning and develop their skills by attending training. Managers ensure that staff well-being is a priority, and they seek to continually strengthen the workforce. This creates a culture of mutual respect and teamwork, and it positively impacts on the care and education that the children receive.
• Managers and staff complete daily risk assessment checks in the indoor and outdoor environment. They encourage children to notice and identify risks for themselves. For example, children delight when making towers using large wooden blocks. Staff discuss the risks with children when sitting on the floor around the tall towers. They decide to stand up when building the tower to ensure they can quickly move out of the way if it falls. This gives children healthy foundations for risk assessment and problem-solving.
• Parents are complimentary about staff. They express that they feel that staff know their children well and support their care and education effectively. Strong parent partnership helps children make good progress in their learning and transition well between home and the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop a more consistent approach to helping children learn about and follow good hygiene processes, to further improve their self-care skills
• strengthen staff's skills in recognising when children need more time to process information and develop ideas for themselves.