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What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this inclusive setting eager to start their day. Staff warmly welcome children when they arrive and take time to talk to them and their families. Relationships within the setting are positive. Staff treat children with kindness and respect. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have particularly close relationships with their key staff. They display affection and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in their nurturing care.

Staff plan a range of fun and engaging activities to support children's learning. For example, pre-school children practise their balancing skills as they play a game of tag. They listen carefully to instructions from staff and try hard to recall the sequence of actions they need to follow. Children's learning is extended as they are challenged to jump over an object. Staff offer extra support for children who need it. This creates positive and memorable learning experiences.

Behaviour is good. Children respond well to directions from staff. Visual timetables throughout the setting help to manage children's expectations. This leads to positive transitions between activities. This is especially true for children with SEND. Such practices ensure a well-managed environment, promoting effective learning and social development.

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

• The setting has designed a curriculum that aims to give children a broad range of enriching experiences. Children enjoy trips into their local community. For example, they visit the local Mosque and park. Children encounter new experiences, such as going to a train station. Leaders also provide a community 'hub' service, where they offer support and guidance to parents. The setting has a strong community ethos.
• There is a robust key-person system in place. Staff know the children they care for well. They consider their needs, interests and developmental targets to plan meaningful learning experiences. Staff play alongside children and model how to play. For example, they show babies how to tap or bang objects together to make different sounds. That said, staff do not ask questions that support children to think for themselves and guide their own learning. This limits children's critical thinking skills
• Support for communication and language development is good. Babies hear lots of single words from staff and enjoy implementing them in their play. For example, they repeat 'mix, mix, mix' as they pretend to make food in the role-play area. Children have access to books and enjoy regular story time sessions.
• Staff have effective strategies in place to support children who speak English as an additional language. All rooms across the setting have visual timetables and objects of reference to support children's understanding. The setting also provides translation services for parents and a home lending library that includes books in children's first languages.
• Children enjoy healthy and nutritious meals. Daily outdoor play provides a range of opportunities for children to be physically active. Staff know children's dietary requirements and ensure that any preferences and allergies are catered for. Children make good progress with their personal development and are supported with their oral hygiene.
• Parents are valued as partners in their child's education. Parent's feedback about the setting is extremely positive. They feel that the setting genuinely cares and wants the best for children and their families. Parents receive regular updates about their child's progress and developmental targets. This enables parents to support learning at home.
• Leaders are passionate and strive for continual improvement. Staff feel that leaders prioritise their well-being. They receive regular supervision where they can discuss a range of issues. Staff have access to a range of training opportunities to support their continual professional development. However, the monitoring of staff practice is not yet precise enough to address variations in teaching practice and raise the quality of teaching to the highest possible level.
• Staff and leaders have worked hard to embed a high-quality provision for children with SEND. Staff know children's individual needs well. Their learning environment has been carefully considered to ensure minimal distractions and provide a safe space. Staff work in partnership with other professionals and work collaboratively to achieve their targets. Parents of children with SEND are highly complimentary about the setting. They comment on the excellent progress their children have made and how, as parents, they feel listened to and heard.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop questioning techniques to help children to develop their critical thinking skills and guide their own learning during play
• focus more precisely on monitoring staff's teaching practice to help address variations and consistently raise the standard of teaching to the highest level.