Fun 4 Kidz

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled and content in this welcoming setting. Staff provide an environment where children feel safe and comfortable to explore. Staff working with babies are kind, calm and caring. This creates a nurturing learning environment. Toddlers demonstrate high levels of confidence. Staff encourage them to sing nursery rhymes on their own. They beam with pride at the applause they receive from staff and their friends. Pre-school children's overall happiness is enhanced by the friendships they form. They are seen playing happily together, especially as they have fun in the role-play area.

Children have access to a range of exciting learning opportunities. Pre-school children pretend to build houses out of foam bricks. They use a range of tools to spread shaving foam to cement the bricks together, carefully laying them one on top of the other. Children make links to a familiar story as they huff and puff to blow their house down. Toddlers enjoy opportunities to make marks. They roll cars back and forth in paint, talking about the changes they see as the paint colours mix together. Children are active learners.

Behaviour throughout the setting is good. Staff are enthusiastic to gain the attention of children and encourage them to tidy up. Staff create 'sensory ladders' for children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND). These help staff to recognise changes in children's behaviour and support them to regulate their emotions at the earliest opportunity.

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

• Leaders have implemented a sequenced curriculum that aims to build on children's knowledge and skills as they progress through the setting. Staff plan activities and experiences aimed at enhancing children's cultural capital and giving them a rich set of experiences.
• Leaders and staff conduct regular assessments to ensure that children are making good progress. Staff know children well and plan next steps for them to achieve. That said, staff working with the youngest children do not fully consider children's next steps when providing resources for continuous provision. This means that babies do not always have consistent opportunities to practise their emerging skills.
• Staff support children's communication and language development in a number of ways. Staff initiate conversations and sing songs and rhymes with children, all of which helps to extend children's vocabulary. Children actively engage in stories, individually or at group times. This helps to promote children's early literacy skills.
• Children make good progress with their personal development and independence skills. Babies learn to feed themselves with a spoon. Pre-school children clear their table after lunch and wash their faces independently. Staff provide good support for children to understand the importance of oral care.
• Staff understand the needs of children with SEND. Staff work in partnership with parents and other professionals to ensure that children receive the targeted support that they need. Additional funding is used well to support children. For example, a sound-activated traffic light system helps children to know when the noise level in their room is too high for one of their friends. This helps to create an inclusive learning environment where children with SEND make good progress in their learning and development.
• Children learn about the diverse world around them. Staff teach them about different religions and festivals around the world. They celebrate the traditions of children that attend. For example, children talk about their own cultures and experiences at circle time. Trips to the local library and other areas help children to gain an understanding of the community they live in.
• Staff report high levels of well-being. Leaders meet with staff to observe and discuss good practice and identify professional development opportunities. However, there are some minor inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. Staff working with toddlers often interrupt children's engagement at key times. For example, staff interrupt children during story and singing time to wash hands, or staff speak simultaneously to children during group time. This makes children lose focus and means that their engagement and concentration are hindered during important learning opportunities.
• Parents speak highly of the setting. They comment on the progress their children have made since attending. They value the feedback that they receive about their child's day and feel that it is a two-way partnership. Parents are valued as partners in their child's education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that staff working with babies fully consider the resources provided during continuous provision to ensure more consistent opportunities for babies to practise their emerging skills
• build on staff's awareness to avoid unnecessary interruptions and simultaneous instructions to children, to maximise their engagement and concentration during important learning opportunities.