Jumping Beans, Garratt Park Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to start their day at this welcoming playgroup. Staff are quick to respond to children who are new to the playgroup and a little unsure with lots of reassurance. Staff spend time with children and get to know them when they first start. This helps children to settle quickly and form reassuring bonds with staff. Staff provide a calm environment and implement simple routines to create a safe and consistent experience for children. Children are gaining in confidence.

Children are provided with a broad curriculum that includes a range of interesting activities and experiences. Overall, these suitably capture children's attention and help children make some gains in their learning. Physical development is supported well at the playgroup. Children enjoy playing in the outside area, riding and racing the bikes, running, and balancing carefully on the equipment. Children have fun exploring the coloured slime as they build their hand muscles. Staff join in with children's play that does not interrupt their fun. For example, children at the role-play area, pretend to go shopping. Staff respectfully ask children if they can join in with their play and model the language children need to play purposefully. This helps to increase children's developing vocabulary.

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

• All children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. Staff liaise with other professionals and follow their advice and use this information to provide targeted support for children.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills effectively. Throughout their interactions, they provide a dialogue, repeat words and phrases and introduce new words to extend children's vocabulary. Children talk with confidence as staff listen with interest to what they say.
• The implementation of the curriculum is not consistently embedded across the playgroup. Teaching, at times, is rushed as staff become busy helping other children to engage fully in activities. Therefore, children do not have the best possible learning experience. For example, staff support children with their scissor skills to develop their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. However, staff are distracted by other children's needs. This means, on some occasions, teaching does not deliver the intentions of what staff would like children to learn.
• Leaders have established an effective curriculum to enhance children's physical skills. Children develop the strength in their hands as staff teach them how to use tongs and scissors. Outdoors, children practise balancing and using their larger physical skills. Children are able to control their bodies.
• Children have opportunities to develop their mathematical skills. They keenly count and recognise numerals. Staff encourage mathematical language as they explain to children which is 'heavier'. Children eagerly recognise shapes and problem solve as they complete jigsaws. This supports all children to develop their mathematical awareness.
• Generally, children behave well. Staff are positive role models. They guide children's behaviour through gentle reminders, such as 'kind hands' and reminding children 'my turn, your turn' when encouraging sharing. However, staff do not take all opportunities to support children's understanding of this and explain why these behaviours are not acceptable. They do not consistently use strategies for children to understand how some actions impact on others.
• Partnerships with parents are effective at this playgroup. Parents comment that children are happy to attend, staff are friendly, and they feel supported as a whole family. They see their children making progress and receive information daily about what children have been doing and how they can support learning at home. They comment how they feel part of a community and are eager to help with fundraising for the playgroup. This supports continuity of care and learning for children.
• Staff work well as a team. Leaders show a high regard for staff well-being, ensuring they feel supported and appreciated, which helps them in fulfilling their roles and developing their practice. Staff attend training to improve their knowledge and skills further. For example, following recent training to enhance children's communication and language, staff use signs and gestures to support children's developing language skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the consistency of teaching so that all children benefit from highly effective implementation of the curriculum
• help staff to support children's understanding of behavioural expectations and boundaries to further promote their self-regulation.