Headstart

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle well. Staff greet them warmly. Children build a great repertoire of fairy tales, stories and songs. They use visual props to retell stories. Children pull faces to show expression. They understand how characters in songs may feel. Children loudly sing 'The Grand Old Duke of York' as they march upstairs. Music and song play an integral part in the children's routine. They develop good communication, language and literacy skills. There is a real sense of happiness among staff and children. This positively impacts well-being.

Children behave well and staff fully support them to practise their manners. For example, staff sign 'thank you' to reinforce expectations. Children are confident within a secure routine. Children take turns among peers. They work well as a team during play. For example, children show high levels of concentration as they carefully stack large construction blocks to build a high tower. They develop an awareness for height and measure. Children say, 'it is taller than me'. They develop good mathematical concepts. Children learn to count to 14 as they walk up the stairs.

Children benefit from a well-planned indoor and outdoor environment. They develop good physical skills. Children independently use their whole body to push their car up a ramp. They smile as they lift their feet up, and they roll down in excitement. Children explore left-handed scissors. They have time to explore preference in their developing skills.

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

• Children develop security within the environment. They benefit from a visual timetable to support their understanding of what comes next. Key persons fully support children, who they know well. Skilled staff put innovative strategies in place to support children's needs. For example, children who need to feel an additional sense of security have a beanbag which will wrap around them. There are secure arrangements in place for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The proactive manager focuses on improving children's current outcomes, as well as their future outcomes. The manager applies for relevant funding and, in partnership with parents, they build the care plans children need to ensure future success.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Parents say they 'love the nursery' and 'staff are brilliant'. However, parents do not always feel they are fully engaged in their children's learning. Parents say they would 'like things sent home specific to learning'. More engagement would positively impact children to make rapid progress in their development.
• Staff are good role models for children. As a result, children respond well to staff. They listen to what staff say and they are confident to follow instructions. At times, staff do not consider how their language and terminology may negatively affect children's understanding and language skills.
• The manager works directly with the children. She supports staff to deliver a curriculum which meets the needs of all children, including those who speak English as an additional language. The manager is confident to research specific subjects to keep knowledge and skills up to date. They ensure they share their knowledge with staff to specifically impact the individual needs of children.
• The curriculum ensures learning is sequenced and children make good progress. Staff build on what children know and can do. For example, children build with large blocks before staff introduce smaller construction materials. This enhances children's confidence and independence in their small-muscle skills. However, staff do not consistently promote children's independence skills throughout the session. For example, during a creative activity, staff tell children how to decorate their picture. At times, they do it for them. For example, staff screw up tissue paper into a ball and they place it on the child's picture. This negatively impacts independence and child choice.
• Staff deployment is effective. Children receive high levels of engagement, including face-to-face conversations from staff. Through role play, children develop good social skills. Children practise their developing language in a small group. Staff listen to children's ideas. They positively enhance children's experiences through play. Staff ask children open-ended questions to test their knowledge and understanding of the world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide parents with ideas and suggestions to help them to support further children's ongoing learning and development at home
• support all staff to consistently develop children's independence skills throughout the session
• improve terminology and the explanations given to children by staff, to ensure language used does not negatively impact children's developing ideas.