Daisy Chain Childcare (Adel) Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children respond well to the caring and friendly staff and form very positive relationships. This helps children settle quickly and feel secure in the nursery. Younger children enjoy being cuddled while they drink their bottles of milk or when they are listening to a story. Older children take pride in what they learn to do, such as when they successfully use tricky science pipettes in an experiment to create a rain cloud.

Children are happy, motivated learners, who are confident speaking to others. They are well behaved and eager to join in. Staff take every opportunity to praise children's positive behaviour. Children learn to share, take turns and to help others. Children develop good concentration, which improves their ability to learn. Older children demonstrate good imagination in their play and use language well to express their ideas. They tell staff about the costumes they are wearing to celebrate World Book Day and describe characters in their favourite book.

Children develop a very good understanding of the world, as they learn about nature, animals and life in other communities. Staff count and sing songs in other languages, such as Spanish, and celebrate children's family cultural events. Older children thoroughly enjoy participating in a French language lesson, where they relish taking a challenge to help tell a story in French using puppets. They count in French as they line up for lunch and delight in saying, 'Oh La La' to each other.

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

• The manager provides a well-sequenced curriculum that is supported by staff's understanding of the children's needs and interests. It builds on what the children already know and helps staff consider the children's next steps when planning for the day. Accurate assessments enable staff to identify any gaps in learning and plan focused activities to help children move forward. They form effective partnerships with other professionals involved with children's learning to promote continuity.
• Children are becoming very good communicators. Staff model play and provide a running commentary, which helps to give meaning to what children are doing. Older children communicate confidently and share their ideas with their friends. Toddlers are able to repeat familiar words and phrases as staff support them to retell 'The Three Little Pigs' story using straw, bricks, twigs and props.
• Children receive lots of warmth and affection. Staff working with the younger children are very attentive and take account of their individual needs in nappy changing and sleep routines. Children respond with big smiles and hugs when staff play and talk with them, for example, during a sensory activity with oats, flour, spoons, different sized bowls and toy teddy bears. Children's self-esteem is actively nurtured.
• The manager and staff have strong relationships with parents. Staff exchange regular information with them, which helps them to share in their children's learning at home. Parents speak highly of the staff team. They comment that their children are very happy, have lots of friends, and make good progress.
• The dedicated manager clearly understands how to implement the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Staff reflect her passion and commitment to provide high-quality care and learning for children. Together, they identify clear areas for training and improvement to benefit children's learning. For example, there are plans to develop the outdoor areas for babies to extend their opportunities for physical development, and to resume regular science lessons from external sources to ignite older children's interests.
• Staff know that one activity can be used to teach a range of different things and they make good use of opportunities to extend children's learning. However, at times, in their enthusiasm, they miss chances to extend older children's awareness of mathematical concepts and problem-solving skills. Staff working with younger children, sometimes, miss opportunities to help them count, play with numbers and categorise objects to help support mathematical development.
• Overall, staff support children's developing self-care skills and encourage good hygiene routines. For instance, they introduce toilet training to younger children. However, there is scope to enhance children's understanding of healthy lifestyles, particularly when staff interact with children during play and routines. Children engage in physical activities, such as music time where they follow staff's movements as they join in with favourite action rhymes.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide even more opportunities for children to develop their mathematical skills
• enhance opportunities for children to develop a stronger understanding of healthy lifestyles.