Cashes Green Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff demonstrate warmth, calmness and respect towards children, creating a nurturing and supportive environment. Children show they feel secure and engage confidently in activities. Staff interactions, such as using children's names, making eye contact and responding sensitively to their needs, build strong attachments and promote emotional well-being.

Since their last inspection, leaders have maintained a clear and sustained focus on strengthening the curriculum intent alongside staff development. The curriculum is well structured, and staff confidently explain what children need to learn, why it matters and how they will teach it, showing strong understanding and ownership. Learning is carefully sequenced, with regular assessments used to track progress and inform teaching. This has been a key focus of leaders, the on-site school and local authority, with a positive improvement since the last inspection. Curriculum expectations and staff roles are clearly shared with families through newsletters and displays, building transparency and trust.

Parents express high satisfaction with the provision, feeling well informed and keen to support learning at home. They value the practical topics covered and feel well supported by staff. Parents note clear improvements in the setting, with past concerns addressed and a more positive atmosphere now evident for both children and staff.

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

• Staff consistently support speech by naming objects and using single words with younger children. Staff introduce new vocabulary, model key words and provide play-based support to develop children's speech. They use rich, descriptive language to enhance older children's expressive vocabulary. However, teaching quality varies across age groups, and some staff miss opportunities to extend learning through spontaneous moments.
• Staff speak positively about their professional development since receiving support from the school and local authority. They actively engage in meetings focused on curriculum, language and children's progress, showing a stronger grasp of effective practice. The setting promotes reflective, consistent approaches, with a clear focus on well-being, professional growth and improving outcomes through strong leadership and teamwork.
• The setting uses 'Golden Rules' to support behaviour management and shared responsibility. Children behave well. However, on occasion, staff tend to tell children not to do something without explaining why, and children receive mixed messages about behaviour expectations. This limits children's ability to learn self-regulation or understand the consequences of their actions.
• The setting supports transitions well, with close alignment to the attached school and a curriculum designed to foster school readiness. Engagement with the wider school community is meaningful and ongoing. Events like the Halloween disco create shared experiences that deepen family involvement and reinforce the setting's role as an integral part of the school.
• Children enjoy regular access to the outdoor area, benefiting from fresh air and physical activity. However, the space lacks the purposeful and engaging learning seen indoors. Key areas, such as the mud pit, offer limited play value and require redevelopment. Although leaders have begun to plan improvements, the outdoor provision requires further development to spark curiosity and deepen learning.
• Staff consistently foster independence by involving children in self-help tasks. Self-serve meals and the 'nose blowing station' build autonomy and practical skills. Calm, well-managed mealtimes reinforce healthy habits and social development. Care routines promote self-help and often extend learning.
• Staff organise weekly sports and music sessions, which support children's physical development and communication skills. Staff provide children with lots of opportunities to progress their physical development. Children enjoy climbing, running and jumping in the fresh air. Fine motor skills are promoted through engaging activities like using tweezers, mark-making and constructing with loops or train tracks, which are well supported by attentive staff.
• Staff broaden children's knowledge of the world around them and the community they live in. Initiatives like the 'Hide a Book' project around the village encourage shared literacy and links between home and school. Children attending more than one provision in the area are well supported through effective communication between settings. Staff attend meetings across provisions, and information is consistently shared, promoting continuity in care.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to make the most of teachable moments to extend children's learning
• help children gain a deeper understanding of why rules are important by providing clear and consistent explanations
• enhance the outdoor area to provide all children, particularly those who prefer to learn outdoors, with more varied and stimulating outdoor learning experiences.