Cambo Wraparound

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this very friendly and welcoming setting. They form close bonds with staff, who are very caring, fun, respectful and kind. Relationships between staff and children are superb. Children are very settled, happy and secure and new children settle very quickly.

Children engage fully in their play and activities. They show very high levels of focus and concentration as they make pretend potions from water, flowers and herbs. Staff encourage children to think of their own ideas and solutions. For example, children work out for themselves how to retrieve a spoon that has become trapped inside a bottle. When drawing pictures, staff encourage them to think of different ways to make the clouds they draw stand out from the white background of the paper. Staff support children to investigate whether different items float or sink. Children experiment with magnets on different surfaces and use a fan to explore how far different materials travel in air.

Staff consistently praise and encourage children. This helps to build their confidence and self-esteem. Staff are clear with their praise. This helps children to recognise and be proud of their achievements. Staff's support for children's behaviour is excellent. Children know to wait at the side of the track for their turn on bicycles, tricycles and scooters. They wait patiently for their friends to finish and help each other as they reach the challenging, uphill part of the course.

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

• The support for children's early literacy is outstanding. Staff talk to children about the structure of books, using words such as 'front' and 'back', and 'cover' and 'spine'. Staff help children to understand that print has meaning and words are read from left to right.
• Staff encourage children to explore familiar books. They recap at the end of stories and encourage children to clap the number of syllables of words that are found in the text. This helps to embed children's learning. Staff encourage children to explore print in different ways. For example, they provide magazines about tractors, as they know this is a topic that children are excited by and interested in.
• Staff provide excellent support for children's developing communication and language skills. They skilfully leave gaps for children to fill in stories and songs. Staff introduce new words and ask questions that encourage more detailed answers. They use sign language to aid children's communication still further.
• Staff know children individually very well. Their planning of activities is very much tailored to individual children's needs and next steps in their learning. The systems in place for assessing children's learning are very thorough. Staff consistently provide clear instructions and model new skills to children as they play, to extend their learning even further.
• Children benefit from rich opportunities to learn through their senses. They carefully cut herbs and flower petals with scissors. They mix dough, shells and pebbles as they explore in the pretend kitchen. Staff provide real crockery for children to use and real ingredients in the kitchen, such as tea bags, rice and pasta, to help support their imaginative play.
• Staff plan outstanding support for children's physical development. Children balance, stretch and climb as they tackle obstacle courses and large play equipment. They develop coordination and flexibility as they take part in yoga and gymnastics. Children develop their smaller muscles as they explore with pipettes, scissors and scoops.
• Staff encourage children to learn about healthy foods and lifestyles. Children grow rapidly in independence. They learn how to brush their teeth and fill up their own water bottles.
• There is a very strong focus on children being outdoors and learning about the natural world. Staff, three of whom are forest school trained, encourage children to help care for pigs and chickens in the adjacent woodland. Children learn about the life cycles of the pigs and collect and count eggs from the chickens.
• Children learn about life outside the setting and experiences beyond their own. For example, to broaden children's understanding of where people live and their local community, staff take children on walks through the village to show them different types of housing people live in.
• Staff have experience of caring for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They have extensive experience of working with other professionals in education and health, in order to create a consistent approach to support for children.
• Parents speak extremely highly of the setting and staff, who they describe as 'absolutely amazing'. They say staff are very supportive, friendly and approachable. Parents say their children are very settled and happy and that they love coming to the setting.
• The setting has excellent partnerships with the local school. They share some resources and spaces. There are times throughout the day when children have the opportunity to come together with their school-aged friends or siblings. This helps to create a seamless transition for children as they move to school.
• The very experienced and long-established staff team work together very well. Staff say they feel very well supported by the managers in their professional development and well-being. Staff are very reflective and dedicated to the continuous improvement of the service they provide.