Daisy Chain Pre-School (Southfields)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to attend the setting. Overall, they settle well. On occasions when children are upset, they seek comfort from staff, who are sensitive to this and readily offer cuddles and reassurance. Children's interests are ignited and staff skilfully redirect them to help them become fully engaged in play. This contributes to children feeling safe and secure.

Children use their imagination through play. For example, staff build on children's interest in aeroplanes. They use chairs to create a plane and children pretend that they are flying to America to visit Disneyland. Children use their creativity to explore different roles such as the pilot and a passenger. As a result, they are becoming increasingly confident in their self-expression and communicating their ideas.

Children are inquisitive. Older children approach visitors and enquire about their presence at the setting. Younger children smile and show visitors what they are playing with. Children are keen to share experiences with staff. For example, they enthusiastically tell staff how they lost a tooth and the 'tooth fairy' visited them. Staff listen with interest, which further promotes children's delight in re-telling their story. Consequently, children develop positive and respectful relationships with others.

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

• Staff work closely with parents to identify important information about children. For example, parents complete 'All about me' sheets. This helps staff to build an accurate picture of each child's development and current interests. As a result, staff provide an individualised curriculum which is tailored to each child's needs.
• Children's development is carefully monitored by staff. They swiftly identify where children may need additional support and are confident to seek help from other professionals to support children's development. Staff know their own key children well. However, they are not always familiar with the next steps in learning for other children they provide care for. This means that staff are not able to fully support these children's individual learning needs.
• Staff acknowledge that some families do not have access to a garden. Consequently, they provide plenty of opportunities for children to play outside. Children use their large muscles as they jump over hurdles, and coordinate their bodies to crawl under apparatus. This provides them with new experiences and supports the development of essential physical skills.
• Following the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have identified children's communication and language development as a priority. They understand the importance of modelling language to support children to learn new words.
• Additionally, staff use simple sign language to further support verbal communication. For instance, they sign to indicate sharing and more. However, on occasion, staff ask children too many questions in quick succession without providing sufficient time for them to think and respond.
• Children behave well. They are considerate of others and take turns to pour drinks at snack time. Children listen and follow staff instructions. For instance, they respond well as staff remind them to walk when indoors. Children watch how to spread jam on their bread before practising this skill for themselves. As a result, they benefit from the available opportunities to learn and develop.
• Children demonstrate a positive approach to learning and develop self-care skills. For instance, they take great interest in learning about oral health. Children listen intently as staff read a book on caring for teeth. They practise brushing skills on sets of pretend teeth.
• Staff are well supported by the leadership and management team. They are provided with one-to-one meetings to discuss practice and development opportunities. For instance, some staff access training aimed at addressing the needs of children following the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff use the knowledge they gain to share new vocabulary ideas with parents, to enable them to further support children at home. This helps children widen their understanding and use of new words.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently provide children with sufficient time to process and respond to questions
• strengthen systems to support staff to develop an understanding regarding all children's next steps in learning.