Blossoming Minds Daycare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children at the beginning of the day. Children are excited to come into the setting, and they quickly settle at an inviting activity in the engaging environment. Leaders are highly ambitious. They set out clear learning intentions as part of a broad curriculum to promote children's learning and ensure that they are ready for school. Children's behaviour is good. Children play cooperatively together, developing strong friendships. Older children show concern for younger children. For example, they rush to help them to carry a chair during musical chairs when they hear them comment it is 'too heavy' for them. Staff organise games, helping children learn the importance of sharing and taking turns. They use clear and concise instructions to help even the youngest children to join in and understand the rules.

Staff have high expectations of children, encouraging them to be independent. Children line up to wash their hands before mealtimes. They butter their own bread to make sandwiches for lunch, choosing which fillings they would like. Children are confident to express themselves, share their opinions and seek others out to play. Staff offer children praise and encouragement. This helps to promote children's self-esteem and helps children to persevere, developing resilience in tasks they may find tricky. Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Staff swiftly identify children who may need additional support and work collaboratively with others to put this in place.

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

• Staff know children well. They monitor children's learning effectively. Staff use this information to identify what it is children already know and what it is they need to learn next. All children make good progress in their learning and development.
• The development of children's communication and language skills is a strength of the setting's curriculum. Staff use lots of repetition with younger children to reinforce their vocabulary. They introduce new contextual language during discussions and ask children open-ended questions. Staff research the answer to questions the children ask, such as how many spots a ladybird has, so that they can provide accurate answers and empower children with knowledge.
• Staff at the setting are enthusiastic. They are down on children's level, joining in their games and constantly looking at how they can provide a wide range of opportunities. However, in this excitement to provide such a range of experiences, staff can sometimes overly direct children's play, which means children are moved between activities and resources quickly. This does not give children the time and space to continue the activities they want to stay at longer to extend their learning independently.
• Staff promote children's understanding of healthy lifestyles, such as involving children in cooking activities. At snack time, children make their own faces using a range of fresh ingredients, such as strawberries, peppers, cucumber and celery. Children discuss the taste and feel of different ingredients.
• Children are physically active. They enjoying yoga and dance, as well as regular outings to the local park. Staff support children to develop good oral hygiene, including brushing their teeth daily after lunchtime.
• Parents speak highly of the setting. They especially appreciate the way staff incorporate children's home languages into activities, for example all learning poetry in Mandarin or learning to count in Portuguese. Parents comment on the excellent feedback they receive from staff. They comment that staff notice the smaller new things their children achieve, as well as the bigger milestones. Parents feel that their children are in a safe and nurturing environment.
• Staff feel well supported in their roles. They have regular opportunities to meet with leaders through supervision sessions to discuss any concerns they may have. Leaders regularly encourage staff to engage in further training opportunities to continue their own professional development.
• There are rules and boundaries in place in the setting, which staff discuss daily during group times. Children show an understanding of the concepts of using 'kind hands' and sharing resources with others. When children act impulsively, such as pushing an empty swing back on themselves at the park, staff are swift to intervene and tell children not to do this to prevent them from harm. However, they do not explain why these actions are harmful. This does not support children to be able to understand the consequences of their actions and keep themselves and others safe.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• allow children greater time to explore in their own play to build their imagination and creativity skills
• consider how to further promote children's understanding of why certain processes are in place to keep themselves and others safe.