Happy Days Childrens Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and ready to learn at this welcoming and friendly setting. They develop strong relationships with the caring staff and show that they feel safe and secure in their care. Children are confident and have fun as they become engaged in activities. They respond positively to staff's requests and instructions, for example when they are reminded to share and to be kind. Children quickly learn to recognise when the daily routines are about to happen. For example, they confidently choose their cushions or mats, ready to comfortably settle for music time.

Staff encourage children to develop a love of reading. Children are eager to guess what the story is about based on the title and cover of the book. Staff use effective questioning techniques which support children to predict what will happen next. Outside, older children enjoy the 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' story and are delighted to go on a pretend 'bear hunt' in the outside area. They join in with familiar phrases and actions, and scream with excitement when they pretend to find the bear.

Partnerships with parents are strong. During COVID-19, the management team maintained contact with children and their families. Staff supported children's educational progress by providing activity ideas, recipes and online support to engage children.

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

• Children are encouraged to be independent with some tasks, such as pouring their own water and washing their hands. However, they do not always use their independence skills. This is because some staff will do simple tasks for children, such as wiping their noses and putting their coats on.
• Children are provided with opportunities to develop their early mathematical skills. They learn about volume and capacity as they become fascinated by a sand play activity. They enjoy filling and emptying the sand in different containers and become excited when they knock down the sandcastles.
• Children enjoy being outside in the fresh air. They develop good physical skills as they climb, jump and balance along the wooden planks and crates. Children develop good hand-to-eye coordination as they roll cars down pieces of guttering.
• Children learn about diversity and the wider world through discussions and activities that build their awareness of cultural events and celebrations during the year. Staff gather key words and phrases from families who speak English as an additional language, to aid communication.
• The committee provides strong governance for the staff team. It holds a good oversight of the priorities for improvement and fulfils its strategic role very successfully. The committee places a strong priority on reducing staff workload and successfully promotes staff's well-being.
• Members of the management team successfully reflect on their practice and identify aspects of the service they aim to improve. Although a variety of strategies were introduced during the pandemic to communicate with parents, they identify and value the importance of face-to-face parents' workshops. The management team is currently planning how to resume this practice. This supports the wishes expressed by the parents.
• Managers and staff acknowledge the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic on accessing support needed from other professionals children are working with. However, the manager proactively engages with them in other ways, for example through phone calls and emails, to ensure continued targeted support is provided to those children.
• Members of the management team have a clear vision for the setting. They know what they expect of staff and what they want staff to teach children. Supervision processes are in place that support staff's ongoing development. The manager meets with staff to discuss their role, agree professional development targets and plan future training. However, targets set for staff do not always fully support them in raising the quality of their teaching to the highest level.
• Staff incorporate children's interests into activities. However, they do not always adapt their practice to focus on children's individual next steps in learning, to help children consistently achieve the best possible outcomes. For example, some staff are less aware of children who may not focus on activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further develop children's independence skills by encouraging them to manage simple tasks for themselves
• make better use of staff supervision to support staff to develop the consistency of their teaching skills
• support staff to raise their interactions and engagement with children to a consistently high level so that they benefit more from quality play experiences.