Jack & Jill's Childcare Radford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the setting and feel safe in the staff's care. They arrive confidently and some forget to say goodbye to their parents at the door in their eagerness to greet their friends and see what activities staff have set out for them. On occasions when children arrive feeling upset, staff use what they know about the children and their interests to settle them in quickly. Children form strong attachments with the friendly staff team. They cuddle in close to staff as they listen to a story and ask to sit on their lap.

Children benefit from a broad curriculum that helps them develop their skills and knowledge in good preparation for later learning, including at school. They are keen to get involved when staff read to them, joining in with the actions and calling out the refrains. Children build their muscle strength, balance and coordination when moving around the garden in different ways. For example, they learn to propel themselves on scooters and ride-on toys. Children persevere at difficult tasks, such as following staff's instructions to use tweezers to pick up small items. Children are learning to share and take turns. Staff encourage them to say, 'Next please,' to request their turn with a toy when their friends have finished with it.

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

• Leaders and staff provide children with stimulating and enjoyable learning experiences to capture their interests and promote their curiosity. For example, children explore different textures with their hands and describe them, and with support from staff, they recall how these items link with a favourite story. However, at times, leaders and staff do not target children's learning needs as precisely as they could to extend their learning further.
• The key-person system is effective. Staff are kind and caring and know the children well. They provide good support for children's personal and emotional development, particularly for those whose family members are deployed in the military. Staff accurately assess what children know and can do and identify appropriate next steps in learning. They use this information to help them identify how to support children to make good progress.
• Staff provide good support for children's communication and language, overall. They narrate what children do and teach them new words, such as 'pine cone' and 'beach'. Staff use a wide range of communication methods, such as sign language and pictures, to help children who have delayed speech. Although staff model language well for children, they do not always encourage children to talk, to help them express their thoughts and ideas.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works well in partnership with parents, other agencies and staff to close any gaps in children's development. Staff identify any development concerns promptly and work with the SENCo to put plans in place to provide additional and consistent support for children where required.
• Staff comment very positively on their relationships with the leadership team. They meet regularly to discuss the running of the setting and any changes, such as to the policies and procedures. Monitoring of staff's practice and support and coaching are not as effective as possible to raise the standard of teaching and learning further. For example, staff miss opportunities to build children's self-confidence and skills to manage tasks for themselves.
• Staff's partnerships with parents are good and help them to meet the children's needs. Parents provide positive feedback about the setting. They state that their children enjoy attending and have very good relationships with the staff team. Parents are pleased with the progress their children make in their learning.
• Children behave well and are taught the importance of being respectful to others. They listen to and follow staff's instructions, such as finishing their games when staff warn them that they will be moving on to another activity soon. Children are kind and develop good social skills. For example, when they find a child's toy from home in the setting, they return it to their friend so it does not get lost or forgotten.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the support and coaching for staff to enhance the quality of their practice, with particular regard to building children's confidence and skills to manage tasks for themselves
• support staff to develop the quality and consistency of their interactions with children to provide more opportunities for children to think, speak and express themselves
• develop the planning of the curriculum to target children's learning needs more precisely and consistently provide good challenge for each child.