Fazakerley Children's Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Respectful relationships between staff, children and their families have been established at this inclusive setting. Staff use the expertise of families to embrace children's cultures and traditions and celebrate these within their curriculum. Children learn what makes them unique as they spend time looking at their family photos and discussing these together. Staff support children to have a positive approach to diversity and help them to feel that they belong and are represented in the nursery. Staff support children to play cooperatively as they teach them to take turns and value each other's opinions. There is a sense of fun as children excitedly take part in many role-play experiences together. As children build towers together, they discuss wearing helmets to allow them to build safely. Children behave well and are very welcoming of each other in their play.

Leaders create a curriculum that is ambitious and gives children a wide range of rich experiences. They have gathered the expertise of outside professionals to ensure that the curriculum is bespoke to the needs of the children. Leaders have identified what children need to know and what they want them to experience by the time they leave the setting. Overall, staff implement the curriculum well. Staff demonstrate exceptional skill when using their interactions to extend children's learning during play. Staff introduce new language and ask questions that encourage children to think and recall previous learning. Children make strong progress in their development.

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

• Staff provide engaging experiences that support children to be active. They encourage babies to pull themselves up to standing to look into mirrors. As babies achieve this, they peep in the mirror and giggle as they see the reflection of staff. Older children use their strength and coordination to bowl with balls, dig for bugs and ride bicycles. Staff create challenges as they encourage children to crawl through hoops and under obstacles. Children make good progress in their physical development.
• The nursery promotes a love for reading. Babies snuggle up with staff and explore the pages of books as staff tell stories. Older children delight in sharing books together in cosy spots inside and outside. Staff encourage children to use books to extend their knowledge. For example, as children find bugs, staff encourage them to look for a book about bugs to find out more. Children search the pages until they find the 'Hercules beetle'. They share their new knowledge with their peers.
• Staff are skilful at supporting children's mathematical development as they interact with them. Children confidently use a range of mathematical knowledge in their play. For example, as children discover a tape measure, they measure each other and recap how much they have grown. Children predict who will be the biggest and smallest and use language such as 'massive' and 'tiny' as they use their measuring skills.
• Staff complete regular assessments of children's development and identify any gaps in their learning successfully. The special educational needs coordinator has formed strong working relationships with other agencies. She is skilled at supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and ensures that children with SEND have specific strategies in place to meet their needs. Children with SEND are supported to make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff have established excellent relationships with parents. Leaders are proactive in recognising the difficulties families can face. They make good use of the services that are on site to ensure that all families receive the support they need. Consistency in children's care and learning is achieved through daily discussions between staff and parents, in addition to stay-and-play sessions and parents' evenings. Parents say that their children have made excellent progress with their development since they started at the 'amazing' nursery.
• Children's health is given the utmost priority by staff. Leaders share health messages, including oral health, with children and families and support them to register with dentists. Children are encouraged to drink lots of fresh water, eat healthy meals and rest. Older children have been taught the importance of washing their hands. They share how germs can 'make you sick'. Children are beginning to understand ways to keep themselves healthy.
• Leaders are extremely supportive of staff well-being. They have a clear understanding of staff strengths and areas where they can further develop their understanding of the curriculum. At times, staff are not as successful in implementing the intended curriculum, particularly during structured times of the day. For example, during mealtimes, some children wait for long periods of time for their food without staff engaging them in learning opportunities. Staff do not always consider how they can fully use these times to support children to continue to be engaged in purposeful learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement the intended curriculum consistently, including structured times, to help children to remain engaged in purposeful learning.