Dinotots Children's Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders strive to provide quality care and education. Staff share their vision and want children to feel safe, happy and ready to learn. Relationships between staff and children are warm and supportive. Babies benefit from responsive care routines. They snuggle close to staff while sharing books and giggle when they sing to them. Older children proudly share their achievements with staff, glowing with pride when staff congratulate and praise them. Staff model good manners and respect. Children are polite and behave well.

Children have plenty of opportunities for active play. They skilfully move under and over the climbing dome indoors and enjoy daily visits to the local park. This regular exercise and fresh air contributes to children's good health and supports the good progress that they make in their physical development. Children are confident and capable movers who develop strength, balance and coordination.

Staff provide a range of appealing activities that, generally, support children's learning well. Babies develop their hand-eye coordination, such as when filling and emptying cups with coloured rice. Children explore ice while trying to free the dinosaurs from their frozen eggs. Staff observe children during their play and identify the skills they want children to develop next. Overall, the broad and varied curriculum helps to ensure that all children are supported to make good progress in their learning.

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

• There is an effective balance of adult-led activities and opportunities for children to develop their own ideas during their play. Staff plan activities to help children to develop particular skills, such as increasing their awareness of numbers and counting while baking cakes. They support children's independent play well and encourage them to test out their ideas. For example, with staff's support, children set up a boat race in the water tray, designing the race route and creating the rules.
• Staff know children well and, overall, help children to learn and remember more. However, occasionally, staff do not consider the prior skills and knowledge younger children need to succeed during some activities. For example, younger children lose interest and leave the activity when they wait too long for a turn to mix ingredients. Children who have not yet developed pencil control skills are not developmentally ready to draw pictures when guided by staff.
• Children learn about ways to keep themselves safe and healthy during familiar experiences. They understand how to cross roads safely during outings, reminding each other to 'stop, look and listen'. Staff support children to brush their teeth each day and to wash their hands at key moments. This supports children's growing awareness of their own well-being and builds foundations for positive and lifelong habits.
• Some parts of the daily routine are not organised well enough to sustain children's positive attitudes and behaviours. Staff do not always reinforce their expectations clearly during some parts of the day, such as mealtimes and during small-group activities. This means that children sometimes dismiss staff's guidance. For example, some children continue to play, despite staff explaining it is time to put the toys away and listen. Staff take too many children to the bathroom at one time, and children get restless while waiting in this small space.
• Parents and carers speak highly of the setting and staff. They appreciate the good communication from staff, for example the photos that they receive through an electronic app. Staff share 'wow moments' daily with parents, which helps them to celebrate what their children have learned and build further on their progress at home.
• Leaders guide and support staff and frequently check on their well-being. Staff feel valued and are happy in their role. However, the arrangements to monitor and build on their practice are not yet fully effective. Leaders do not consistently identify or address minor weaknesses in teaching quickly enough to drive continuous improvement in the overall quality of education. While staff access some training, this largely revisits their existing knowledge and does not deepen or extend their skills to improve teaching practice further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider younger children's current abilities and readiness for learning more consistently when planning activities to help them to build on what they already know and can do
• refine the organisation of routines and help children to understand and respond more consistently to clear and consistent expectations for their behaviour
• monitor teaching practice more closely so that support for staff and their professional development are consistent, effective and help to build continuously on the quality of education.