Cleverclogs

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and are eager to begin their day. They form strong bonds with staff and demonstrate how safe they feel in their care. Children develop positive attitudes to learning. They are curious and confidently explore the spaces, resources and activities on offer. Children develop a love of books. They recall familiar stories, including the main characters and key events. Children tell the inspector about the 'baddies' and how the heroes escape at the end. They enjoy looking at books independently, cuddled up on an armchair with a friend. Children develop social skills and learn how to take turns and share resources fairly. From a young age, children develop their self-care skills. Babies find their coats and water bottles ready to go outside. Older children enjoy their turn to prepare fruit for their friends at snack time. They learn how to hold knives carefully and to handle porcelain cups and plates gently. Children take turns to wash up and are eager to talk about helpful tasks they complete at home too.

Staff have high expectations for children. They regularly assess children's learning and share their observations with parents. Staff use this information to plan appropriately challenging and interesting activities to support children's unique learning journeys. Parents highlight the 'excellent' level of support staff provide to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. All children make good progress from their starting points.

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

• Parents speak extremely highly of the setting. They report strong partnerships with 'wonderful' staff and how their children feel valued and enjoy attending. Parents appreciate how well staff support children's emotional well-being at key times, such as preparing for a new sibling or moving to school. They feel well informed about their children's daily experiences, learning and development.
• Leaders and managers seek feedback from parents and staff to help them evaluate the quality of service they provide. They use this information to make improvements, such as hosting more informal parent events and developing the range of resources offered to children. However, self-evaluation does not closely assess the impact of the curriculum to identify ways to improve its delivery. For example, staff do not always consider how effective activities are in increasing what children can understand, recall and do.
• Children demonstrate good levels of concentration. They focus as they stack wooden bricks on top of vehicles, saying 'wow!' when they manage to balance several on the wobbly surface. Children are imaginative. They use spaghetti, googly eyes and play dough to make creatures. They describe their models, pointing out key features, saying 'those are eyeballs!'.
• Leaders and managers carry out an effective programme of supervision and training for staff. They have developed well-being arrangements to support staff and show appreciation for their work. Staff are encouraged to develop their knowledge and skills with further qualifications and say they feel valued within the team.
• Staff support children's understanding of number and quantity well. For instance, they count during play and daily routines and teach children fun counting rhymes. Children recall familiar songs, such as 'five little monkeys', and use their fingers to count.
• Children develop their early writing skills. They make marks in sand and play dough with a variety of tools. They strengthen their hand muscles as they squeeze, roll, pinch, pat and stretch the materials. Older children show an interest in letters and are beginning to write their name.
• Staff are warm and responsive in their interactions with children. They are active participants in children's play, modelling new vocabulary and conversational skills. However, at times staff do not always give a clear or detailed enough explanation of new or complex concepts to support children's full understanding.
• From a young age, children like spending time in the garden. Babies enjoy investigating different textures of sand, bark, grass and wood. Toddlers delight in making music by tapping different pots, pans and surfaces in the 'mud kitchen'. Children practise their physical skills by running, jumping, climbing, sliding and pedalling ride-on toys.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance self-evaluation to focus more closely on assessing and evaluating the impact of the curriculum on children's learning and development
• strengthen the approach to introducing and exploring new concepts or vocabulary to support children's full understanding and strengthen their language skills.