Carlton Playgroup Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff meet children's care needs well. They build positive relationships with children, who, in turn, build positive relationships with each other. Staff teach children what is expected of them. Children demonstrate their understanding of this and their familiarity with the nursery routines as they help to tidy up without being reminded. In addition, staff regularly praise children's good behaviour to support children to learn what is right and wrong.

Learning is sequenced to build on what children already know and can do. For example, staff plan for babies to develop their fine motor skills by using their hands to explore materials and make marks in the sand. Staff provide many more opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills. Older children use their fingers to manipulate dough. They thread shapes onto string and make models out of construction materials. This supports children to develop the muscles in their hands and helps with early writing skills.

Staff introduce language to children from an early age. They teach them the names of farm animals and demonstrate the sounds that they make. Staff repeat the words that children attempt to say. They add on extra words when children speak to help them to build sentence structure. Staff support children to practise and widen their vocabulary.

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

• The manager and staff plan a varied curriculum based on assessments that they undertake of children's development. The manager and staff consider children's existing skills and plan for what they want them to learn next. They consider children's backgrounds and home environments to ensure that they fully understand their prior experiences.
• Staff teach children key skills that will help them when they move on to school. For example, they allow children to be independent and develop their confidence to be able to communicate their needs. These skills will help children to navigate school life when the time comes.
• Staff plan teaching that enables them to teach children new skills. For example, staff teach children the names of shapes and colours. They give children time to think and encourage children to test out their own answers and theories. When children do not get the answer quite right, staff teach them the correct answer. However, occasionally staff do not remind children of prior learning to help them to further embed their knowledge. For example, staff do not ask children questions about a book they have been reading to test out their knowledge.
• Staff support children to develop their mathematical skills. They provide opportunities for children to sort, count and make patterns with shapes. They learn about sequence and matching. This is helping children to understand simple mathematical concepts.
• Staff help children to feel part of their community. They take part in and organise events. For example, they take part in a scarecrow trail that links to the book they have been reading this month.
• Children who have language delay or other needs are quickly identified because staff know them well. When needs are identified, staff and managers communicate with parents about what action they can take together to support children fully. Strong partnerships with speech and language therapists and Portage help these children to catch up with their peers.
• Managers and key persons seek to support parents to help with their children's learning at home. However, this is not yet engaging a wide range of parents. That being said, parents describe how well the nursery meets their child's needs. In particular, parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities say that their children are very well supported.
• The manager evaluates practice well. She recognises the key skills children are being taught and how staff are doing this. In addition, she also recognises slight weaknesses in practice and the impact on children. This helps her to provide feedback to staff to help them to improve learning opportunities for children. For example, staff are undertaking training to support children's language development even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more opportunities for children to remember and talk about what they have already learned
• develop information-sharing processes with parents to support a more consistent two-way flow of communication.