Bpcs Creche

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the setting with beaming smiles when greeted by the staff team. They reach out their arms to hug the staff as they are passed over by their parents. Children enjoy the independence of selecting the toys and resources they use. Boys select multicultural dolls as they role play being a parent. Mornings are filled with song. Children listen intently to morning prayer, which teaches them about their cultural heritage. Children also celebrate the diverse community in which they live as they create artwork relating to the Queen's Jubilee. They join in enthusiastically as they sing along to traditional nursery rhymes and copy the actions of staff.

Children delight in the time they spend playing outside. They pour water into small buckets and pretend to paint outdoor furniture. In the dappled shade, children learn how to make the correct shape with their mouths to blow bubbles in the breeze. This helps support their emerging speech. This is developed further as children pick their favourite books to be read to them. Children practice turning pages and explore the textures on the page. They say the repeated words in the text without prompting, and gleefully identify the animals in the book by saying 'It's a lion'. Other children develop their balance and coordination as they play hopscotch, while correctly identifying numbers up to 10. Children show their creative skills as they create works of art on the large outdoor chalkboard.

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

• The nursery manager has a clear understanding of the learning needs for the children at the setting. This is implemented well by the staff team. All children make good progress from their starting points, due to the broad and balanced curriculum. This focuses on embedding children's social skills, supporting their communication and language, and developing a range of physical skills. Staff thread mathematical teaching through general interactions and planned activities. The impact is seen as older children demonstrate what they have learned in their language during play.
• Overall, parental partnerships are a strength and parents comment that their children 'walk in joyfully every day'. Staff work closely with families to ensure that detailed information about children's progress is shared. Advice to extend children's learning to home is regularly provided. Emerging gaps in development are promptly addressed. Where additional support is needed, the setting play an active part in implementing referrals to outside agencies. This ensures children promptly receive the support they need.
• Staff provide children with education which supports good health and physical development. Children develop great coordination and balance skills during dancing activities and outdoor play. Very young children show their strength and determination as they clamber onto apparatus. Older children learn to catch and throw balls with increasing accuracy. Staff help children learn about healthy eating. They teach the importance of toothbrushing, and children practise this with specific toys and resources. However, some children are provided with packed lunches that are not healthy, balanced, or nutritious. This limits the otherwise good progress children make in relation to their health.
• In the main, staff work hard to help children develop their independence. Children select the activities they take part in, the toys they play with, and the books they would like to have read to them. Children find their own placemats at lunchtime and are familiar with routines, such as tidying away after play and lining up to wash their hands before lunch. However, staff could do more to build on children's independence. For example, they wash and dry children's hands for them. They also peel fruit for children and open wrappers and containers at lunch. Children are capable of doing these things for themselves but are not always given the chance to do so. This limits the otherwise positive support offered for children's independence.
• Staff ensure that children learn about life in modern Britain. As well as celebrating their own cultural festivals, children learn about other significant celebrations from other faiths and communities, such as Bonfire Night. Children create unique artwork and are able to talk about key facts they have learned.
• Children are keen to learn and focus for extended periods of time on activities. Staff give children praise for their successes and encouragement when things become tricky. Staff act as good role models. Their good manners and kind treatment of others is replicated by the children, who are considerate towards their peers. Where disagreements occur, staff gently interject and remind children of expected behaviours.
• Staff comment positively about working at the setting. They explain how they receive lots of support through regular supervision meetings with the manager. They are helped to improve their teaching via feedback from the manager's observations. Training is also readily available. Staff explain that they can rely on their colleagues and that their own well-being is well supported.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance partnerships with parents further, so that children's health is even better supported through healthier food choices in packed lunches
• provide staff with more incisive and individual feedback in order to raise the quality of education to the highest level, to better support children's independence.