House of Eden

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled and secure at this friendly and welcoming setting. They benefit from a wide range of interesting and challenging activities and experiences that cover all areas of learning. There is a strong focus on nature and caring for the natural world. For example, children grow beans in pots and learn about the life cycle of frogs. They hunt for their favourite insects with magnifying glasses in the enclosed garden. Children learn about the wider world beyond their own. For example, they learn about life on a farm and make flags and crowns to help mark the Queen's Jubilee.

Children's behaviour is good. Staff provide strong support to help them explore and manage their feelings and emotions. For example, staff encourage children to talk about their feelings with others at group time. Children paint faces that are happy or sad with water and brushes during outdoor play to show how they feel. They are growing in confidence and independence. Staff encourage children to independently put on their coats and wash their hands. They invite them to be helpers and take part in daily tasks, such as tidying up and clearing away plates at mealtimes. Children find their own photos and names during registration. These secure daily routines help them to feel a sense of belonging.

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

• Relationships between staff and children are caring and fun. Staff recognise what children already know, can do and understand. They use this information well, overall, to help plan exciting experiences and activities to embed and extend children's learning further.
• Staff are good role models. They encourage children to be respectful and use good manners. Staff ask and value children's opinions and follow their lead in play. For example, children choose what colour paints to use as part of an activity to make dough.
• Support for children's personal, social and emotional development is good. Staff let children know what is going to happen next in the daily routine. This helps children feel settled and secure. For example, staff use photos to show children what activity is coming next. Staff encourage the children's efforts and praise their achievements. This helps raise their confidence and self-esteem.
• There is strong support for children's developing language and communication skills. Staff ask detailed questions and leave plenty of time for children to respond. Children sing songs and number rhymes and listen to their favourite stories. The manager uses additional funding the setting receives to train staff to effectively support children's communication and language needs.
• Children have access to fresh air and exercise daily. Staff plan well for children's developing physical skills. Children stretch, climb and slide on outdoor equipment. They develop balance and spatial awareness through group games and exercises. Children develop strength and coordination as they build sandcastles and pat, squash and roll dough.
• Mathematics is woven well through activities throughout the day. Children learn about quantities through baking activities. They measure themselves against a height chart and count the cakes they have made out of dough. Children count how many cardboard boxes they can balance on top of each other in the garden. They giggle with delight when the towers they have made fall down.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is particularly successful. Staff attend relevant training and plan stimulating and focused activities to support children's learning and development. They work in partnership with health professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to help provide consistent support for children.
• Overall, partnerships with parents are strong and feedback from them is good. Staff provide ideas for games parents can play with their children at home. Parents are invited to use the setting's library to borrow books to take home and read with their children. There is scope, however, for staff to gather more detailed information about children's home experiences, to help them plan support more precisely.
• Staff gather parents' views and reflect upon experiences for children. The new manager uses this information to plan continuous improvements at the setting. She supports her staff team well. Together they evaluate and discuss the effectiveness of the curriculum and children's progress. She values their views and feedback.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• gather more detailed information from parents about children's experiences at home to help plan more precise support for children's learning and well-being.