Cabin Childcare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in this warm and nurturing nursery. Staff are kind and caring towards children. They provide plenty of support to younger children, who are new to the setting, to help them to separate from their parents with ease. Staff spend time giving babies cuddles and sharing books with them so that they settle in and feel secure. In time, children gain confidence to explore their new environment, knowing that staff are nearby.

Children arrive for their day with a thirst for learning. They are eager to get involved in the rich and varied range of activities that staff provide for them to support their learning. The learning environment is spacious, and staff deploy themselves effectively to supervise children and meet their needs. Babies delight in playing with toy animals, which they pretend to feed. Staff introduce the names of the animals and the sounds that each animal makes. They encourage children to try and copy. Babies are further exposed to new language through singing familiar songs and sharing books with staff. Older children thrive in their exciting outdoor environment. They fill jugs and squeeze pipets to transport water through different containers, which helps to develop their small hand muscles in readiness for writing. Children concentrate to use a wide range of tools to roll, shape and manipulate dough.

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

• Leaders and managers are passionate about the learning experiences for children and ensuring that they are well-prepared for the next stage in their learning. The curriculum for children is implemented effectively. Staff are skilful teachers who provide a range of opportunities that support children to make good progress across all areas of learning.
• Children's emotional needs are prioritised by staff. Older children are encouraged to talk about how they feel. Staff listen to them carefully and validate how they are feeling. They support children to communicate to their friends when they do not like something they are doing. Younger babies are attended to immediately when they become upset and are comforted through cuddles and distractions, which helps them to enjoy their time at nursery. However, children's key persons are not always available to attend to them when needed, which impacts on children's abilities to form the strongest attachments.
• Leaders and managers understand the importance of safeguarding children. All staff attend regular training to keep their knowledge of safeguarding issues and procedures up to date. Risk assessments are undertaken on the environment and before any outing or activity to help keep children safe. Staffing arrangements are carefully planned to make sure that children are well cared for and have their needs met.
• Children behave well in the nursery. Staff support children to follow simple rules when playing games, such as picture bingo. They show children how to choose one card at a time and look to see if this matches any of the pictures on their board. Children patiently wait for their turn and work together well in groups.
• Staff know children well. They carry out termly assessments of children's development and identify precisely what each child needs to learn next. Interesting activities are planned for children to help them achieve the next steps in their learning. However, on occasions, staff do not extend children's learning during activities or ensure that children are able to move on swiftly to the next activity when they are finished.
• Parents speak highly about the nursery. They praise the communication they receive from staff, including daily photographs and information about their child's care. Parents receive regular information about their child's learning and development and ideas of ways to guide this further at home.
• Leaders and managers are knowledgeable about how to support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work closely with children's parents and other professionals to implement targeted support that helps every child to reach their potential.
• Staff receive high levels of support and comment that they enjoy their role at the nursery. Leaders and managers provide regular opportunities for supervision, which gives staff time to discuss their own professional development and any concerns they may have. Leaders and managers are passionate about providing staff with high-quality training opportunities, which continually raise the quality of teaching and promote the interests of children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• look more closely at how children are supported to build secure relationships with their key person
• strengthen the planning for children so that they receive consistently high levels of challenge and remain engaged in their learning.