Haxby Playgroups Rising Fives

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are cared for in a welcoming and exceptionally well-resourced environment. Staff greet children with a friendly reception as they arrive. Children hurry through the entrance gates and respond by saying a cheery 'good morning', eager to start their day. This shows that children are happy and well settled. Children experiment with water and blocks. They join blocks together and press these constructions down in to the water. Children giggle with delight as the blocks float back to the surface. They repeat this again and again. This motion helps to promote children's physical skills and hand-to-eye coordination.

Children hide sticky notes and invite staff to find them. Staff look under tables and behind furniture as they hunt for the papers. Children show their enthusiasm for the game. They jump up and down with excitement. This shows children are creative and able to design their own play. Children are proud to demonstrate their knowledge of the world. For example, children talk to staff and visitors about volcanos. They talk about volcanos being very hot. They use good language skills to describe how the lava shoots out of the volcano and then goes hard. Staff encourage children to develop this play. They suggest that children build their own volcanos in sand. Children use their imagination to create their own design.

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

• Staff provide children with many engaging opportunities to develop their mark-making skills. Children give meaning to their marks. They talk with confidence about their writing. Children show the same pleasure as they push vehicles through paint and notice the tracks made by the tyres.
• Children know how to keep themselves and others safe. They know when water spills on the floor to get a mop and clean it up. Children then get a slippery-floor sign to put on the wet patch to alert others of the spill. This shows that children have been taught to have respect for their environment.
• Children show high levels of respect for each other and adults. They behave well and say 'please' and 'thank you'. When necessary, staff gently explain to children about sharing and taking turns. Children willingly let others enter their already established play. They are happy to discuss what they are doing and share resources. However, the playgroup is a very busy environment with a wide range of experiences on offer. Staff do not always encourage children who are quiet and less confident to join in and help to promote their confidence further.
• Children learn to manage their self-care skills. For example, younger children recognise when they are cold and need to put their coats on. Staff encourage children to try and complete this task themselves. They show them how to put their coats on the floor, bend down to put their arms in their coats and flip it over their head. Children giggle as their coats fly away from their arms.
• Children are skilled communicators. They talk expressively and confidently to each other and to adults. However, staff do not extend children's mathematical language to help children begin to understand how to make comparisons and solve problems that they encounter during play.
• Children are competent and capable movers. They take care not to bump into others and carefully navigate the space around them. This shows that children develop good spatial awareness. Children relish joining staff to play running games in the school playground.
• The manager and staff have adapted daily routines in light of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. They have implemented additional hygiene measures to help ensure the good health of children. Drop-off and collection arrangements have been altered so that parents no longer come into the nursery.
• Parents are very complimentary about the playgroup. They praise the support given by the manager and staff throughout the period of time that the playgroup was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Parents stress the value to their children and themselves of staff maintaining contact through online communication.
• Children show good levels of independence. They help to prepare snack and serve their own food at mealtimes. This helps to prepare children for their next stages of learning and their eventual move on to school.
• The manager values everyone's contribution to the playgroup and places strong emphasis on staff's well-being. All staff are involved in reflecting on the playgroup and planning improvements.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend children's vocabulary, particularly during mathematical play
• review staff's practice to observe how all children engage fully in the experiences offered.