Curiocity Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and content at nursery. They enjoy secure emotional attachments with staff. Children are excited when they are greeted by their key person in the morning. This helps them to settle quickly. Children's personal care is managed by their key person. This helps to develop a sense of security and well-being. Babies show they feel safe. They are content to rest as they go to their beds and quickly settle with their key person close by. Children of all ages are excited to play and explore. Pre-school children are confident to show off their physical skills. For example, they can lift their bodies off the ground and spin around at speed as they confidently use gymnastic rings. Babies are confident to crawl through tunnels and delight in playing peekaboo with their key person.

Staff have high expectations for children, overall. They support their independence and offer praise, and encouragement. For example, they teach children how to fill their own water bottles. This means they can help themselves to water when they are thirsty. Lunchtime routines are focused on promoting children's independence. For example, children are confident to serve their own food. They are patient to wait their turn as they pass the bowls of rice and curry to their friends. This supports the development of positive behaviours and a good attitude to learning.

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

• The manager is committed to promoting a stimulating and exciting curriculum for children. Planning is, generally, focused on children's interests. Staff, as part of their induction and ongoing supervision, learn about the ethos of child-initiated play. This practice is valued by parents, who praise this style of learning.
• Effective partnerships with parents help to support children's development. Parents express they are extremely satisfied with the progress their children are making. They feel well informed and are confident to support their child's learning at home. The manager has established partnerships with external professionals. This helps to ensure timely support for children identified as needing additional support.
• Staff monitor children's progress and assess their levels of development. This helps to identify their next steps in learning. Staff ensure children who speak English as an additional language have the support they need. Staff use visual aids to help children to communicate their wishes. They provide lots of repetition of language to support their developing skills in speaking English.
• Children are developing good communication and language skills. Singing and stories form part of their daily routines. Older children are beginning to learn letter sounds as staff teach phonics. Children are confident to sound out the letter 'T' for Tuesday. They are keen to play games, where they search for items beginning with 't'. Children respond well to praise, which motivates their learning. This helps children to develop skills in readiness for their move to school.
• Staff know the children well and plan activities well, overall. For example, they fill a tray with water and sea animals, so children can play while they also learn about new animals. However, when children become interested in taking water from the tray and show an interest in the measurements on the side of containers they are filling, staff do not build upon this. Children's curiosity in wanting to understand this is not fully developed, in order to extend their learning to a higher level.
• Children's home languages are valued in the setting. This supports a strong sense of belonging. For example, during group time, children are proud to share how they can count in Lithuanian, French and English. Group times encompass a variety of valuable learning intentions. However, these sessions are not always effective for younger children. This is because they sit for too long and lose interest in their learning.
• Children behave well. They learn to respect others as staff promote positive role models. For example, older children are encouraged to share their knowledge of behaviour rules with their younger peers. They talk to them about the need to ask to join in with games. They role model how to use sand timers, so they can take turns at popular activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• identify how children's learning experiences can be extended during adult-led activities, to help them to further build on their interests, knowledge and skills
• review the planning and teaching of group activities to ensure that they consistently support the learning needs of younger children as well as possible.