Bright Stars

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff form warm relationships with children at the setting, who are happy and settled in their care. Children attending the holiday club enjoy activities with their friends, such as playing on the obstacle course on the school field. While parents are not able to come into the building due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, staff keep parents well informed about their children's development. Parents comment that they feel well informed and supported by the staff. Children access a wide range of resources and learn to make choices. They skilfully use remote controls to manoeuvre cars along roadways and play together collaboratively. Staff listen carefully to children as they talk about their experiences at home. Children enjoy sorting and counting animals and chat together about a trip to the zoo, while staff introduce new vocabulary to extend children's learning. Staff enthusiastically join in singing and tapping rhythms with the children in a small group and children delight in singing songs they have learned with their friends. Children learn about the world around them. For example, they water vegetables and watch duck eggs hatch in the nursery. All children enjoy visiting the wider school grounds, which provides natural outdoor spaces for play and learning.

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

• Managers ensure that staff develop their skills through regular training. Staff enhance their understanding of how to support children with speech difficulties and work with children in small groups to develop their communication skills. Staff interact with children as they play and use strategies, such as hand signing, to support them. They help children develop socially by encouraging them to 'use their words' to ask a friend for a turn. Staff provide some extra sessions at nursery for children in receipt of additional funding, to support them in returning to nursery after the pandemic.
• Children develop skills in fine motor control through a range of activities. They learn to become coordinated as they carefully pour water into containers. Staff support children to use scissors correctly as they snip fresh herbs to make potions. Staff show the children how to crush the herbs with a pestle and mortar so that they further develop skills using their hands. Together, they enjoy smelling the fragrant herbs, commenting on those that they like.
• Staff liaise effectively with other professionals to support children with additional needs. They take notice of children's progress, use praise to encourage them and support them to develop confidence by celebrating their achievements. Staff know the children well and pay attention to how they are feeling, which helps children feel secure. Children have a quieter cosy time after lunch, when they are tired, playing games together with staff on the rug.
• Staff skilfully read stories to children to develop their interest and enjoyment for books. Children concentrate fully as they listen and share their ideas as they chat together about the illustrations. Children learn rhymes and songs and choose spider puppets to handle as they sing the rhyme of 'Incy Wincy Spider'.
• Children have access to a range of resources to make marks and develop their early writing skills. Children enjoy using large chalks to draw roadways outside. However, sometimes, staff do not take opportunities to support older children to further develop their skills to begin to write letters, such as in their name, in readiness for school.
• Staff know families well and maintain regular contact with them about children's progress. Staff plan to develop book packs for families to borrow, to help further improve children's communication skills. At times, staff working with children who speak English as an additional language do not make the most of resources to help develop children's home languages.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance opportunities for older children to develop confidence in their early writing skills in readiness for school
• develop opportunities further for children who speak English as an additional language to support their language development.