Coaley Village Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Managers have devised an ambitious curriculum that considers the learning needs of all children. Staff focus on children's socialisation, communication and language, and self-help skills. They observe children at play and use ongoing assessments to target areas where children need the most focus to help them progress. Staff give children plenty of praise for their achievements. Staff build strong attachments with their key children and promote their emotional well-being and independence. Children are happy and settled in their care.

Children experience a rich variety of outdoor learning that builds on their physical skills and utilises the rural aspect of the setting. Managers have considered how to maximise the space to provide an area that meets the needs of the children. For example, children develop core strength as they paint the playground and walls with rollers, stretching their bodies as they paint. They use hammers to bang golf tees into pumpkins, skilfully engaging their hand-eye coordination. When children want to explore further and ask, 'I want to see the seeds inside', staff encourage them to think about how they can do this themselves and what tools would help them. Staff use these opportunities to teach children how to keep themselves safe and manage risk. Children become physically confident at the setting.

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

• Children are kind to one another. For example, when they knock a tower over, other children help to rebuild it and kindly say, 'I can help you, here you go'. Children are confident in their interactions. They use descriptive words during play and provide a commentary for what they are doing, such as, 'I am drawing a menacing shark'. Staff use these moments to play alongside children and are genuinely interested in what children say and do.
• Children come together for group times. Staff read stories and sing songs to encourage their listening and attention skills. However, staff are not always clear about the expectation for children's behaviour during these times. This means that some children lose interest and disrupt the other children by leaving the group or talking among themselves. Some children, who sit quietly and try to talk to staff, are occasionally missed as children and staff talk over each other. Staff do not consistently model how to take turns in conversation.
• Staff support children's developing self-care skills and encourage good hygiene routines. For example, children sing a song about washing hands before mealtimes. Children explain to the inspector that 'germs are invisible, so you must wash your hands with soap a lot'. Staff effectively promote healthy lifestyles for children. For example, they arrange visits from a dentist, to help children learn about good oral health.
• Staff reflect on training to ensure it benefits the children. For example, recent training on the advantages of outside play, has driven changes in practice and the outside environment. Staff are regularly observed by managers, who provide ongoing and precise feedback to enhance their practice. Staff speak highly of the support they are given and feel part of a well-established team.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disability are well supported. The setting works very well with external agencies, including the local authority. Parents comment on how the setting meets their children's individual needs very well. Regular discussions and meetings take place to ensure partnerships are strong. The experienced special educational needs coordinator ensures individual education plans support children's next stage of learning.
• Staff and children often go for walks around their local area, within their community. They visit local shops, the café, and take part in celebrations at the local church. Staff take children to visit their older siblings at the on-site school. For example, they take part in 'golden time' activities on the playing field. However, staff do not always develop children's understanding and learning about the rich diversity that exists outside of their local community.
• Parents have opportunities to observe their children's learning through the regular stay-and-play sessions they attend. Parents and carers are regularly invited into the setting for special celebrations. For example, an afternoon tea party. Leaders and staff work hard to include parents in their children's education. They hold regular meetings to feed back children's development and share learning which can be incorporated at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• incorporate greater cultural diversity into the curriculum to broaden children's understanding of people and their communities
• encourage staff to model behaviour expectations more clearly during group times, to ensure that all children are effectively supported and remain engaged from the onset.