Dragonflies Early Years

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at Dragonflies. They are happy and confident as they explore the room. Children have a positive attitude to learning and engage in interesting activities for long periods of time. Staff support children to follow their own interests, and this inspires them to be curious. For example, children collect acorns off the ground in the garden. Staff ask them where the acorns come from. This sparks conversations about trees and squirrels. Children are keen to relay their newly learnt knowledge to visitors.

Children demonstrate friendly relationships with staff. They enjoy the time they spend with them. Children readily include staff in their games. For example, they shout out their friends names as they throw the ball and respect each other as they share and take turns. Children receive lots of praise for their efforts and achievements. Staff are good role models and support children to develop good manners. Older children are considerate towards younger children. They play cooperatively together and say 'please' and 'thank you' to each other.

Staff place a high importance on teaching children useful independence skills. Children learn to confidently manage their own personal needs and know to follow a good hygiene routine. Staff support younger children to look after themselves as they encourage them to wipe their noses using a mirror for guidance.

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

• Children benefit from an ambitious curriculum. Staff gather information from parents to build on children's existing knowledge. They routinely observe children and check what they know and can do. Staff plan next steps to help children make good progress in their learning.
• Children grow in confidence and practise new skills. They learn to recognise their own capabilities and to manage small risks without being overly fearful. They develop good control and coordination. For example, children skilfully and safely use real tools as they hammer nails into wood and screw tight nails. They explain which of the tools are 'dangerous', and the safety measures they take to keep themselves safe. Staff support younger children to have a go by successfully adapting the activity. As a result, all children are included.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that children get the required levels of support they need. For example, staff use speech boxes to develop speech sounds and support children to use the correct pronunciations of words. However, staff do not always review progress for these children in the timely manner. This means they do not always have an accurate picture of children's achievements, to enable them to target support even more precisely.
• Staff listen to children extremely well and seek children's ideas through open-ended questions to challenge their thinking. They develop an understanding that the most votes establish the outcome. For example, children vote for the rhyme they want to be 'rhyme of the week.' This supports children's developing knowledge of living in a democratic society.
• Children behave well. They show they know how to follow the rules and boundaries. For instance, they stop and listen to staff before they begin to tidy up. Staff teach children to be independent and encourage them to put on their own shoes before going into the garden. Staff consistently use praise and encouragement to support children's good behaviour. This helps to motivate them and understand clear expectations.
• Overall, children access a broad curriculum which follows their interests and current events, such as the death of the Queen. Staff skilfully provide age-appropriate learning opportunities for children to talk about recent events. For example, a picture of the Queen and Paddington Bear on the snack table opens up a discussion about the Queen's death. This supports learning about other topics children may not learn about elsewhere.
• Parents speak highly of the setting and have good relationships with staff. They say their children are happy to attend and are always eager to come. However, parents are unaware of children's individual next steps or specific areas staff are working on to support their child. Therefore, parents are not able to fully continue this learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• evaluate the progress made by children with SEND more regularly to build a more detailed, accurate picture of their learning and development
• strengthen parent partnership arrangements to involve all parents more fully to understand their child's progress, learning and ways they can support learning at home.