Crazy 4 Kids Nicholas Hawksmoor Out Of School Club & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and enjoy their time at this welcoming nursery. Staff greet them on arrival and ask how they are. They are sensitive to all children, in particular to those that are new to the nursery. Staff offer cuddles and reassurance to help them feel safe and secure. This helps children to build close bonds with staff and supports their emotional well-being. Staff promote children's confidence and independence well. Children independently use the toilet and wash their hands. They make good attempts to put on dressing-up clothes in the home corner. Staff are close by to help and offer timely support to children when they need it.

Staff plan many opportunities to support children's physical development, which motivates them to explore. Staff provide mirrors for children to look at their reflection and encourage them to create what they see. Children develop their small hand muscles as they trace around a pot onto paper and then use scissors to cut out a circular shape. Children concentrate well. Outdoors, children delight as they practise their large motor skills. Children confidently climb ropes and run. Staff encourage children to keep trying as they jump onto balancing stones, supporting their spatial awareness and coordination as they step from one to the next.

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

• Leaders and staff show a clear intent for what they want children to learn, with a coherently planned and sequenced curriculum. Staff provide a range of different activities based around children's interests to meet their needs and promote their focus and concentration.
• Staff have a kind and caring approach and are positive role models to children. They talk to children about taking turns and introduce emotions to help them begin to identify how others may be feeling. Children play well together and take turns as they race cars down a ramp in the garden. Children's behaviour is good.
• Staff have high-quality interactions with children. They engage in meaningful conversations with them, which supports children's communication and language. However, although there are books available, these are not always used to support children's love of reading. Staff do not routinely encourage children to look at books and do not regularly sit and read stories to them.
• Staff support children's early maths well. Children play with construction blocks, and staff introduce mathematical language such as 'big', 'small' and 'gigantic', supporting children's understanding of size. Staff talk about full and empty as children pour water into jugs. They encourage children to count the bricks in their tall tower supporting, their understanding of number.
• Children demonstrate their positive attitudes to learning through high levels of curiosity, concentration and enjoyment. Overall, they listen intently and respond positively to adults and each other. However, large group times are not currently
• Inspection report: Crazy 4 Kids Nicholas Hawksmoor Out Of School Club & Pre-School 2 5 September 2024 planned well enough. On these occasions, children sit for long periods of time, which results in some of them becoming restless and disengaged.
• All staff working with children understand their safeguarding responsibilities to protect children from harm. Staff understand how to identify and report concerns. Staff deployment is good, and risk assessments are conducted daily to ensure children are kept safe.
• Leaders and staff use assessment effectively to identify gaps in children's learning. They take swift action involving other professionals and work with parents to develop individual support plans for children who need them. Targeted plans are implemented to support children's next steps in learning. This ensures all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Staff communicate well with parents by conducting daily handovers and updating them on an online application. Staff hold parents' evenings and invite parents to attend regular stay-and-play sessions. This keeps them up to date with their children's progress and helps to build positive relationships with their children's key person.
• Leadership and management are effective. They have a positive ethos for supporting staff's well-being. Staff speak highly of the support they receive. The leaders carry out regular supervision and arrange staff meetings to support staff development and to improve outcomes for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the planning of group time to ensure individual learning needs are met and children do not become disengaged
• support staff to use books more effectively to foster children's love of reading.
• Inspection report: Crazy 4 Kids Nicholas Hawksmoor Out Of School Club & Pre-School 3 5 September 2024