Carey Childcare Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children in this nursery experience warmth and love in abundance. Staff interactions with the children provide them with a high level of continuity and stability. As a result, children forge positive relationships with staff. Children develop confidence very well. For example, they are keen to explore and investigate the carefully planned environment, both indoors and outside.

Staff are kind and patient. They make their high expectations clear and are consistent with how they want children to behave. Most staff recognise when children need help to manage their emotions and act swiftly to offer support. For children who find it harder to settle, staff provide loving support. This means children start their day by being sung to gently or cuddled until they feel secure.

All children make progress. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. Children benefit because staff work tirelessly to provide them with a wide range of experiences. These experiences help children gain the skills they need for their future learning. Staff seek more support or funding for children where needed. They work well with other professionals to help close any gaps in children's learning.

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

• Babies babble happily in a room that is cosy, calm and stimulating. Staff chat softly to the babies and positively encourage them to babble and talk. Staff give lots of cuddles and know the babies very well. This helps babies to thrive.
• Children show developing independence. Pre-school children confidently select the resources available to them. They also make choices and decisions about their play, which helps to extend their ideas. Toddlers and pre-school children enjoy supervised access in the well-resourced outdoor area. As a result, they can climb apparatus, pedal wheeled toys and take part in imaginative play. These opportunities help to enhance children's learning within an enclosed safe environment in the heart of a city centre.
• Activities are well planned and staff know exactly what they want children to learn. Staff assess children's understanding as they interact with them. They also think of ways to further embed or extend children's knowledge, which helps to build on children's capabilities. For example, during a shape activity, staff are aware of which children are ready to deepen their knowledge by moving on to different flat and then solid shapes. Staff know that other children need more support with basic shape recognition. Further opportunities are then prepared to help children with their next steps.
• Children's personalities are understood and not stifled. When children display strong and determined characteristics, staff remain warm and loving but encourage the children to think of others' feelings. This results in children becoming much more cooperative.
• Managers have a clear vision of what they want to improve further and work hard to make their practice better. For example, they provide staff opportunities for ongoing professional development to help them implement an effective curriculum. Following recent training, staff have introduced language development interventions. This has helped children to make rapid progress in their communication.
• Leaders value and recognise staff's strengths and prioritise their well-being. They facilitate reduced hours and flexible working patterns for staff. This has a positive impact on children as staff are heard and energised coming into work. Consequently, children are greeted by happy and enthusiastic staff.
• The parent and staff relationship is strong. Parents state how pleased they are with the service they receive. They are highly complimentary about the care and education provided to their children. Staff use a range of communication methods, such as technology, to have a two-way dialogue with parents. They keep parents up to date with their child's progress and actively encourage parents to support their children's learning at home.
• Healthy lifestyles are promoted within the setting. Children's individual needs are met in terms of dietary requirements. All cultures, intolerances and allergy requirements are provided for. Children are encouraged to be active, both indoors and outside. For example, babies are given time outdoors with bigger children to help their physical mastery and social skills.
• Staff are kind and attentive to all children. However, some staff are not fully aware of children's heritage. This means that children's backgrounds are not always understood and celebrated. Furthermore, children do not hear words they speak at home. This does not enhance their language acquisition within the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to gain a better understanding of the cultural background of children who attend the setting and use this information to support children who speak English as an additional language.