Bright Stars Kids Daycare Ltd

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders have established an inclusive culture across the setting. Staff form secure relationships with children and know them well. They identify children's individual needs and make appropriate adaptations to support their learning and wellbeing. Leaders ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified promptly and receive appropriate support. Staff use the assess, plan, do and review cycle effectively. They have a secure understanding of children's individual plans and targets. Staff respond to children's emerging and changing needs in a timely manner. This helps to ensure that support remains relevant and effective.

Leaders provide targeted training to develop staff's knowledge and skills in meeting children's individual needs. Staff work closely with external professionals, such as a speech and language therapist and sensory services. Staff implement recommended strategies through targeted interventions. Parents and carers are well informed about the support available and work in partnership with staff to promote positive outcomes for their children.

Leaders have a secure understanding of the needs of children receiving additional support. They make considered decisions about the use of additional funding. Funding has been used to provide additional resources and staff training, including Makaton training, to strengthen children's communication skills and support children with SEND. Not all staff have a clear understanding of how funding decisions are made or how the impact of spending is evaluated. As a result, not all staff contribute fully to evaluating which approaches have the greatest impact on children's progress and wellbeing.

Leaders value and promote children's home languages. Staff learn key words and phrases that help children who speak English as an additional language to communicate their needs, build understanding and feel included in the setting. Leaders know which children and families are known to children's social care services. They work effectively with other professionals to provide appropriate support and reduce barriers to children's learning and wellbeing.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum that clearly identifies the knowledge and skills children need to learn across the areas of learning. Staff understand the curriculum well and implement it consistently. They ensure that learning builds on what children already know and can do.

Staff prioritise children's communication and language throughout the setting. They plan topics effectively to introduce and reinforce new vocabulary. For example, when learning about transport, children confidently use words such as 'bicycle', 'boat' and 'bus'. They make connections between their learning and the world around them. Staff embed British Sign Language and Makaton in their practice. This supports communication for babies, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

Staff promote children's enjoyment of stories, rhymes and songs. They use familiar rhymes purposefully to develop children's communication skills, listening and attention, and emerging early literacy skills. As children's communication develops, they form positive relationships and secure friendships with their peers. Staff have a secure understanding of child development and sequence children's learning appropriately. Younger children develop their fine motor skills through activities, such as using nuts and bolts. This helps to strengthen their small-muscle development.

The learning environment typically supports children to revisit and apply previously learned mathematical concepts. Older children play dominoes in small groups. Most staff naturally incorporate mathematical language into daily interactions. For example, they discuss concepts such as size through references to 'big' and 'small' wheels. Staff complement this with direct teaching through books, including 'Ten Little Dinosaurs', which children engage with well and which reflect their age and stage of development.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children achieve well from their starting points and develop the knowledge and skills needed for their next stage of learning. Older children demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of print and begin to give meaning to the marks they make. For example, they independently create shopping lists in the role-play area, recognise familiar letters and begin to practise letter formation.

Generally, younger children develop their physical skills well. They confidently use the outdoor environment to climb, jump and ride wheeled toys. As a result, they strengthen their large-muscle groups and develop the coordination and balance needed for future physical development.

Children show positive attitudes to learning and sustain their engagement in play. They confidently lead and extend their own ideas alongside their peers. For example, children work collaboratively to hide minibeasts and share their observations, commenting that the water is 'sparkly'. These experiences support children's communication skills and ability to work cooperatively with others. Children develop the foundational knowledge and skills across the areas of learning that prepare them well for future learning and the next stage in their education.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders work closely with parents and carers and other professionals to promote children's attendance. This helps to establish positive routines that support children's welfare and future learning. Leaders place an emphasis on helping children to develop the habits and behaviours needed to engage successfully in their learning.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and apply these consistently. They use explicit teaching to help children understand routines and expectations, including the setting's 'golden rules'. For example, when younger children leave books on the floor, staff calmly remind them of their expectations. They encourage children to return the books independently. As a result, children learn to take responsibility for their environment.

Typically, staff support children effectively to develop positive relationships with others. During small-group activities, most staff encourage children to include their peers in play, take turns and listen to one another. Praise is used purposefully to reinforce positive behaviour and attitudes, such as recognising children who wait patiently for their turn.

Staff are positive role models. They consistently model respectful language, including saying 'please' and 'thank you'. Children play cooperatively and demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. For example, children build on their knowledge of transport by working together to create roads in the sand. Staff extend children's thinking through discussion, helping them to remain engaged and motivated in their learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Staff support children's welfare and wellbeing effectively. They encourage children to develop independence through daily routines. This includes managing their personal hygiene and serving themselves at snack times. Babies and younger children receive support to feed themselves and use cutlery from an early age. This helps them to develop confidence and self-care skills.

Children benefit from regular opportunities to be physically active and enjoy fresh air. Staff promote healthy lifestyles through outdoor play, movement activities and nutritious meals. Children make choices about their play and engage positively with staff, who know them well. For example, during dance and movement activities, children eagerly join in, laugh with their friends and confidently demonstrate their own dance movements. These experiences support children's self-expression and emotional wellbeing.

Staff help children to recognise and understand their feelings through everyday interactions. They use a broad range of emotional vocabulary and encourage children to talk about how they are feeling. Key persons and familiar adults listen carefully to children and respond sensitively. This helps children to develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.

Some staff support babies' feeding routines appropriately and work with parents and carers to meet children's individual care needs. However, during mealtimes, some staff do not consistently support children to pace themselves when self-feeding or consistently recognise when they are putting too much food into their mouth. This does not consistently teach children positive eating habits, although staff do supervise children carefully and follow individual feeding routines to ensure that children's safety and wellbeing remain secure.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders have established positive partnerships that support children and their families effectively. They work closely with the local school to help children prepare for the next stage of their learning. School leaders speak positively about children's readiness for transition and the support provided by staff. Leaders understand the needs of the local community. They provide care and education that meet the needs of children and their families. Leaders identify opportunities to support families beyond the curriculum. For example, they provide lending libraries and communication resources, including 'small talk' packs for younger children, to help parents and carers to continue children's learning at home.

Leaders support staff wellbeing effectively. Staff report that they feel valued and well supported through induction, supervision sessions and ongoing professional development. Training and support help staff to understand the importance of their role as key persons. It also helps staff to develop the knowledge and skills needed to support children's learning, development and wellbeing.

Arrangements for sharing and using information from external professionals, including health visitors, are not yet fully consistent. Consequently, information from the progress check when children are aged between 2 and 3 years is not always shared with key persons or used to inform future planning for children's learning and development. However, leaders monitor children's progress effectively, including through the completion of the progress check for children aged between 2 and 3 years. They share this information with parents, helping them to understand and support their children's development.