Clayton Little Stars Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager and ready for their day at nursery. They are happy to leave parents and seek out their key person for reassurance. Children are confident to explore the nursery space with sensitive support from caring and attentive staff. They are involved in enticing and motivating activities and are immersed in their play. For example, older children squeeze the large plastic tweezers together to move sorting items into a pot. Younger children and babies squeal with excitement as they pat and splash the water in a large tray. Older children notice patterns as they shine torches onto the ceiling and say, 'It's a little shadow.'

Children have lots of time to play, investigate and explore in the routine of the day. They choose to play with favourite, familiar activities and are keen to have a go at new experiences. Staff follow a well-planned curriculum which is focused on play. They know about children's current interests and revisit and adapt learning opportunities to offer challenge. This helps children to make good progress across all areas of learning. Staff use familiar stories, songs and rhymes throughout the day. This helps to support children's communication and language development. For example, older children retell 'The Three Little Pigs' as they play with the small-world figures. They say, 'I'll huff and I'll puff,' as they put the wolf figure near the toy house. Younger children and babies enjoy cuddles with staff as they sing a favourite nursery rhyme.

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

• Staff's knowledge of child development is secure. Experienced staff encourage apprentices as they model excellent practice and positive interactions with children. This means that children's learning and development are seamlessly supported. Any gaps in learning are noted and activities are adapted to ensure good development.
• Leaders have a clear and focused vision for their nursery. The varied curriculum reflects how children learn and supports a wealth of quality play opportunities. Staff are very good at adapting activities to enhance and embed children's learning.
• Staff enjoy a wide range of professional development opportunities. This helps them to reflect on their provision for children. For example, training in phonics means that children learn about phonetic sounds as they play. New staff complete a thorough induction, and all staff have regular supervision sessions. This means that staff are confident about their role and know about their responsibilities.
• Parents comment that they are very happy with the nursery. They are reassured as children excitedly enter the nursery. They describe strong partnerships with their children's key person and know about their child's development through daily discussions and an online communication platform.
• Partnerships with other agencies are effective in supporting children's needs. Leaders and staff know where to access more support, as required, so that they can support children's progress. They work with other professionals and parents and adapt the provision and routine to support all children very well.
• Children develop an understanding of their world because staff plan a wide range of activities and outings in the community. Children visit the adjacent library to choose books to read in nursery. They explore their local area as they walk to the play park or visit the local shop to buy ingredients to make biscuits. This helps to promote children's understanding of where they live.
• Children and staff talk together during activities and play. Staff offer familiar words and help children retell stories during a sand-play activity. For example, they comment 'tap' and 'pat' as children fill up the red and blue buckets. Children notice that 'the bucket is full' like the dinosaurs' bucket in the book 'Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs'. However, staff do not consistently use a broad range of words or introduce new words enough during play.
• Staff take every opportunity to help children develop independence over time. They help younger children to hold lidded cups and pour their own drinks from small jugs. Older children pour themselves a drink and hand out snacks for their friends.
• Children develop their physical skills. For example, they scoop and press sand into small buckets and reach for balls in the ball pit. Babies crawl across the space to reach the cosy book corner. Younger children toddle or begin to run as they hold hands with staff outdoors. Older children manoeuvre a small wheeled toy through an obstacle course of small traffic cones. However, staff do not always provide enough challenge in physical activities, or energetic play, to enhance children's large-muscle skills and help them understand the importance of developing healthy bodies.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's understanding of how to support communication and language development, to enable them to broaden the range of words used and introduce new words to children
• support staff to increase the opportunities for more challenge in children's physical development, specifically for large-muscle skills such as climbing and balancing.