Elm Park Baptist Church Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and have very positive attitudes towards their learning. They are inquisitive learners and show a strong sense of belonging at this welcoming playgroup. Staff have high expectations for children's learning and behaviour and are very good role models. They give children clear messages about kindness and expected behaviour. As a result, children behave very well.

Children benefit from a wide variety of activities and show good engagement and enjoyment. For instance, they delight in making animal footprints in shaving foam and show good knowledge of animals and insects. Children's mathematical development is supported well. For example, they sing number songs, such as 'There Were Ten in a Bed' and 'One, Two, Three, Four, Five' and show developing awareness of counting and subtraction. Children's imagination is fostered effectively. This is evident as they dress 'babies', pretend to cook them food and also make birthday cakes with play dough.

Children display good levels of independence and enjoy making their own choices as they play. Children laugh and giggle when dancing and enjoy popping bubbles. Staff actively join in and there is a good sense of fun. Children show good levels of emotional well-being and it is clear that they enjoy attending.

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

• Leaders and staff implement a rich and ambitious curriculum. Staff know children very well and use their knowledge of what children can already do and need to learn next to plan fun activities to close any gaps in their learning. Children are motivated learners and are making good progress.
• Children have frequent opportunities to learn about the importance of helping others. For instance, they are bringing in food and toiletries for the Ukraine appeal and participate in baking sales to raise money for the church. This supports their understanding of kindness and support and helps them to learn about the wider community.
• There is an effective settling-in process in place. Parents say that staff take time to get to know their children and seek detailed information about their interests, needs and preferences. This helps children to settle in with ease.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good levels of support. Staff work collaboratively with other professionals to devise targeted learning plans to support their unique needs. As a result, these children make good progress in relation to their starting points.
• Children's literacy development is promoted well. For instance, children join in with a book award scheme and receive stickers and a certificate when reading books at home. This encourages children to develop a love of reading and stories.
• Staff provide frequent praise and encouragement as children play. Children approach new activities with a can-do attitude and show good levels of self-esteem and confidence. Children display good social skills and play together extremely well.
• Children play with a variety of toys and resources, that help them to learn about diversity. They also engage in cultural celebrations to build their awareness of different backgrounds and traditions, such as making colourful streamers during the Holi festival. This supports children to value and respect each other's similarities and differences.
• Children have ongoing opportunities to develop their physical health and well-being. For instance, they participate in yoga, football and Zumba dancing, that enable them to be active. Despite this, the way in which the outdoor space is currently organised is quite overcrowded with a lot of large equipment, which does not maximise children's spontaneous opportunity to develop their physical skills during outdoor play.
• The quality of teaching is good. However, on occasions, some staff do not skilfully question children to promote their thinking skills and language development to the highest level.
• Staff receive good levels of support and coaching and discuss high levels of staff well-being. They benefit from regular professional development opportunities, which help to continually enhance their teaching skills. For instance, staff speak passionately about 'attention bucket' training, that supports children's concentration, listening and communication skills.
• Parents are very complimentary. They state that staff love their jobs and are kind and caring. Also that the playgroup is highly inclusive and children's care and learning are successfully tailored to meet their individual needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of the outdoor environment to maximise the development of children's physical skills
• enhance staff questioning skills to further extend children's thinking and language development to the very highest level.