Georgie Porgies Sessional Care Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily enter the setting and eagerly explore the well-resourced learning environment. Children feel safe and secure. They quickly form emotional attachments to their key person. Children who are settling in enjoy positive interactions, which helps to support their emotional well-being. Staff get to know the children well, to get a clear understanding of children's starting points. Children play outside in a safe, well-planned area, with tricycles, a mud kitchen and space to move around. This helps to promote their physical skills. Children delight in catching falling snowdrops and watching them melt in their hands, helping to expand their understanding of the weather.

Children concentrate with intent while playing cooperatively with a train track. They work well together to share the pieces, helping each other to fit them together. Children show good behaviour and attitudes towards their learning and with each other. During group activities, older children name and describe animals and musical instruments. Children talk about a zebra's colours and pattern, while others excitedly tell the group that zebras can be found in the zoo. They take turns to answer questions, developing their listening and attention skills. Children are engrossed in balancing blocks on a tall tower. Staff further extend this opportunity by naming the number of blocks. This supports children's mathematical knowledge.

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

• Through effective questioning, practitioners skilfully encourage the children to think and work out answers for themselves. Staff deliberately give lots of time for children to respond. This helps to encourage less-confident children to talk in a group and develop their communication and language skills.
• Leaders are clear about the skills and knowledge they want children to gain from the well-designed and sequenced curriculum. Overall, the curriculum is ambitious for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff ensure that children with SEND access necessary support from relevant professionals. They provide targeted learning plans to ensure the curriculum is tailored to meet children's individual needs. However, on occasion, the curriculum for children with SEND is inconsistently implemented, resulting in some children being less settled and ready to learn.
• Children show good levels of engagement and are keen to have a go at moulding dough balls themselves, using their hands and tools. Some children want a little support. Staff help children by showing them how to do it, encouraging them to try. This can help to build children's confidence, enabling them to develop a 'have-a-go' attitude to their learning.
• Regular visits to the local area support children's understanding of the area in which they live. For example, children visited the town hall to take flowers and cards when the Queen died. Children help to make a fairy trail in the local park, which they visit at the weekend with their families. This helps to support their continued learning at home. Children learn about people's differences. For instance, staff promote Chinese New Year with various activities and displays across the setting. Children understand their own uniqueness and that not everyone has the same beliefs and cultural traditions.
• Leaders work in cooperation with local schools to help prepare children to be ready for their next stage in learning. For example, teachers share what they want children to know and be able to do when they arrive. This information helps to shape the setting's curriculum goals, which have been implemented effectively.
• The manager strives for continual progress and can explain what needs to change to drive improvement in the setting. Leaders monitor staff practice effectively. They work alongside staff and hold regular supervision meetings with them. Staff speak highly of the manager and feel their well-being is supported through good communication and teamwork.
• During the inspection process, it was identified that the provider had not notified Ofsted of a change to registration details. While this is a breach of the legal requirements, it does not impact on the safety, care or education of the children. As soon as this was brought to their attention, leaders took prompt and effective action. When talking to the inspector, leaders demonstrated a secure understanding of their responsibility to inform Ofsted of all required information in future.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to improve staff's knowledge in implementing the curriculum, to enable all children, including those with SEND, to achieve the best possible outcomes.