Dandelion Day Nursery and Kids Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome from staff at the start of their day. They happily embrace staff's reassuring cuddles and then quickly become engaged in the activities that staff have provided. Younger babies learn about concepts such as in and out and up and down. They repeatedly put a toy in a tin and take it out again, synchronising this action with staff's description of what they are doing. Pre-school children recall their prior learning. Staff use photos to help children remember what they have done. Children excitedly talk about a recent walk and are prompted by staff to talk about the ice that they found. This helps to embed children's new knowledge about the cold weather.

Children start to learn about the social skills that they will need to get along well with others. For instance, toddlers follow staff's instruction to take turns as they stir a pretend cup of tea. They engage in this imaginary play, then willingly pass the cup to the person sitting next to them. Pre-school children vote on what colour play dough they want to make. Here, staff are teaching children about democracy and how they can make decisions fairly when they are part of a group.

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

• The management team has designed a broad and age-appropriate curriculum that supports children to progress in all areas of learning and development. Staff implement the curriculum by theming activities around songs and books. They choose these songs and books based on children's current interests and what they want children to learn. For example, toddlers learn about transport through participating in activities that staff have planned around a familiar nursery rhyme.
• Staff respond positively to children's achievements. For example, during a play dough activity, staff offer warm praise when pre-school children answer questions and correctly identify the ingredients. This boosts children's self-esteem and gives them the confidence to share their ideas and thoughts.
• Staff constantly review what resources are on offer and how children are playing with them. When they notice children's attention dwindling, they change an activity by adding new resources. For instance, they provide warm soapy water for children to wash the toy buses that they have been using to make marks in sand. This helps to keep children focused on meaningful activities and reduces the risk of children's behaviour deteriorating.
• Staff communicate effectively with each other and with parents. This means that important information about children's care and learning is clearly shared. Parents say that their children's transitions between different rooms are smooth because new staff know their children well and can meet their care and learning needs without delay. They explain how they feel informed about their children's learning, which means they can support this further at home.
• Staff's accurate assessment of children's development means that gaps in learning are identified swiftly. The management and staff team work effectively with specialist services to make sure children get extra support if they need it. They closely monitor children's progress and support children to work towards appropriate targets, which have been mutually agreed by staff, parents and support services. Because staff follow these processes, the risk of children not reaching their full learning and development potential is minimised.
• There are some good examples of where the management team recognise and respond to staff's training needs. For instance, they have organised training for staff to understand and support childhood anxiety. However, there are occasional inconsistencies in the quality of staff's interactions with children, and although the management team accept this, their support, coaching and training has not yet fully addressed this.
• The management team has recently notified Ofsted of an incident whereby children gained access to medication. This meant they met their legal responsibility to notify of such events, as set out in the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage. The management team has taken action to make sure a similar incident does not happen again. The team has addressed weaknesses in staff's supervision of children and the deployment of staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on the arrangements that are already in place for offering staff support, coaching, and training, so that staff's interactions with children are consistent and of high quality.