Christchurch Kindergarten @ Edgware

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children as they arrive at this inclusive kindergarten. Children happily leave their parents and eagerly explore a wide range of exciting activities. Staff encourage children to hang their coats up and then find their names on the self-registration board. This helps children to gain sense of belonging and develop their independence skills. Children enjoy spending time with staff and form positive and respectful relationships. This helps them to feel safe and secure. Children behave well and are ready to learn. Overall, they make good progress in their learning.

Staff play alongside children with enthusiasm. For example, they all dance together and make music with musical instruments. Leaders have a clear vision of what they want children to learn. They design an ambitious curriculum that is based on children's interests and what they need to learn next. Staff sequence children's learning well and encourage them to share their experiences. For example, children talk about visiting a farm with their families. This leads to staff providing a range of activities to extend children's learning. For instance, staff and children discuss which animals live on a farm and what farm animals eat. Children learn new words such as 'hay'.

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

• Staff teach children about festivals and other cultures that are relevant to the children who attend the kindergarten. This helps children to learn about people and families outside their own. Staff plan activities to support children's understanding of the world and community their live in. For example, they take children to visit local parks and shops.
• Leaders strive to deliver the very best outcomes for children. They know the importance of continuous professional development for staff and its impact on practice. Leaders provide staff with regular meetings and peer observations, including video observations. However, they do not focus their evaluations sharply enough on improving the quality of education to the highest level.
• Staff are good role models. They listen closely to what children say and observe what they do. Staff know when and how to support children to resolve any minor differences. This helps to develop children's self-esteem, as they learn how to share space and resources with one another.
• Leaders and staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles. For instance, staff work with parents to ensure that children eat a range of nutritious meals and snacks. Children follow robust hygiene routines, including washing their hands and brushing their teeth. They have daily opportunities to be active in the well-equipped outdoor areas. Children run, jump, play with balls, explore water and ride wheeled toys. This helps to support children's overall health and well-being.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to practise gripping, pinching and squeezing with their fingers. This helps to develop the small muscles in their hands. Consequently, children develop their expressive drawing and mark-making skills very well.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They sing, read books and engage children in regular conversations. Staff use prompts and visual objects of reference, when needed. They organise group sessions to share planned activities to develop children's attention and language. However, staff do not always ensure that these activities fully support what they intend children to learn. On occasion, this leads to some children becoming distracted and not engaged in their learning.
• Staff and the special educational needs coordinator take prompt actions to address any identified gaps in children's learning. They liaise well with parents and outside agencies to ensure that all children receive appropriate support with their development. As a result, children make good progress in their learning from their starting points in learning.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents appreciate the regular updates about their child's progress. Parents of children who speak English as an additional language comment on how quickly children learn to speak English. Leaders introduce a book library to encourage children to read at home. This supports continuity of children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use evaluations to provide staff with targeted coaching and mentoring to raise quality of education to the highest level
• focus on what children need to learn next during group-time activities to ensure that they remain fully immersed in their learning.