First Steps Playgroup Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This playgroup is a wonderful place for children to learn, play and grow. Children flourish due to the standard of education and care that they receive. Leaders are ambitious for their community and have high expectations for what children can achieve. Staff are committed to inclusion. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve highly. Staff use every opportunity to develop children's speech, language and communication by engaging them in quality conversations.

Children are safe and happy. Staff know the children and their families well and build positive relationships with them. This helps children to be safe and confident at the playgroup. Children show high levels of independence and resilience. They know where to find resources to support their learning and will readily ask for help if needed. Children demonstrate their self-confidence through exploration. For example, they excitedly use the role-play area with props to dress up and play imaginatively with each other.

Staff have high expectations for children's learning and the way that they behave with one another. Children's behaviour is good. Staff support children to be kind, caring and respectful. Children play happily with their friends. Any minor disagreements are quickly resolved by staff, who model the expected behaviour, such as sharing and taking turns.

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

• Leaders and staff have an ambitious and comprehensive curriculum in place for all areas of learning. Each area is broken down into specific next steps that reflect where children are in their learning journey. The whole curriculum is well planned and tailored to meet children's interests. Assessments are used well. Leaders ensure that children's next steps in learning are identified through observations, tracking individual needs and parents' feedback.
• Staff feel very well supported by leaders. They value the high-quality professional development they receive, which has enabled them to become effective practitioners. Many staff have worked at the playgroup for a long time and have progressed their careers there. However, at times, systems to mentor less-experienced staff are not utilised to their full potential. Therefore, on occasion, not all staff utilise every opportunity to deepen children's knowledge and understanding while they play.
• Developing children's vocabulary is a priority. Staff build children's language through talking about what they are doing. For example, while making play dough, staff use simple instructions alongside pictures to support children's understanding of instructions and new words. Staff use actions and pictures as children mix the ingredients.
• Children have many opportunities to develop their independence. Children prepare snack independently while staff ensure that they are well supervised. They cut their own fruit with safety knives and use the electric toaster. At times, opportunities for children to further extend their independence are not fully extended into all areas of the children's routines. For instance, some staff do things for children, such as putting their coats on for them. This does not fully extend opportunities for children to develop their self-help skills.
• Children's early communication and language skills are given high priority. For example, staff share stories and rhymes with children each day. These are chosen carefully for their rich content and repetitive phrases, which children learn and readily join in with.
• Staff have high expectations for children's personal development. Lots of opportunities are provided to embody the values of the playgroup, including being kind and respectful. Children learn about different faiths and cultures. They enjoy exploring the various important festivals from each other's faiths, including Diwali, Eid and Christmas.
• Staff support children who speak English as an additional language. Leaders ensure that staff who share the same home language as children use this in the playgroup. Leaders extend these opportunities to share information with parents in their home language. This helps children and families to develop a sense of belonging.
• Partnerships with parents and the local community are a strength of the playgroup. Parents say that they feel supported in their child's learning and development. Leaders hold regular workshops to support families, including 'communication' and 'oral health' workshops.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen support for less-experienced staff to develop their knowledge and skills to ensure more consistency in practice and fully support children's learning
• provide even more opportunities for children to do things for themselves and extend their independence and self-help skills.