Just Little Kidz

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a warm and welcoming environment with exciting opportunities that ignite children's curiosity. For example, staff provide an abundance of open-ended opportunities that enable children to guide their own learning. Children are highly motivated to learn and settle quickly into play. Staff build strong relationships with children, which promotes children's well-being effectively.

Staff support children's positive behaviour exceptionally well. They implement rules and children know what is expected of them. Staff offer gentle reminders to children, such as using 'indoor feet' and 'kind hands'. This contributes to their awareness of the rules and their own safety. Staff reinforce the routine effectively. For example, when they sing the tidy-up song, children stop what they are doing and help to tidy away. Staff offer encouragement and praise as children complete these tasks. This helps to build on their confidence and independence skills.

Staff offer children many opportunities to develop their literacy skills. For instance, children show a love of books and sit close to staff to listen to their favourite stories. Children delight in singing songs and taking part in action rhymes. They pretend to be soldiers while they march around the room to a familiar song. Staff join in to help children understand the meaning of the words.

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

• The leadership team is experienced and knowledgeable. Leaders are committed to making improvements to the quality of teaching in the setting. They organise regular team and supervision meetings and are effective in identifying individual staff training needs. They ensure that staff have access to appropriate training to further their continuous professional development.
• Staff collect information from parents about what children know and can do when they join. This helps them to plan activities based on children's interests and what they need to learn next. However, sometimes, they do not consistently take into account how the youngest children are able to freely access all of the quality learning opportunities.
• Staff skilfully promote children's thinking skills. For example, children speculate and solve problems as they explore symmetrical patterns while painting. Children excitedly predict what might happen when colours are mixed. They are fascinated, eager to learn more and have a positive attitude towards learning.
• Staff quickly identify when children need extra support and seek appropriate advice and guidance. They work in close partnership with parents and outside agencies to ensure a consistent approach to children's learning and development. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders plan a curriculum which supports children to develop the skills they need for future learning. For example, they provide interesting tools and various surfaces for mark making to support children's early writing skills. Children become deeply engaged and progressively develop their small hand muscles in readiness for writing.
• Staff model language to children throughout the day. They introduce new words as children play. Staff and children sit together to look at books and children are encouraged to repeat new words and make sounds that link to pictures. This helps to build on children's vocabulary.
• Staff teach children the importance of healthy lifestyles. Children know when they must wash their hands and wipe their noses. They manage these needs independently. Staff encourage children to make healthy food choices during snack times. For example, they offer them a choice of fruit and discuss the benefits of eating healthily.
• Staff plan a wide variety of activities to support children's physical development, both indoors and outdoors. For example, older children play with large blocks and practise cutting using scissors. Babies have many opportunities to build their core strength and leg muscles as they pull themselves to stand up.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Parents receive regular information about their children's progress and how they can continue this learning at home. Parents speak highly of the nursery and feel involved in their children's learning and development. They say the staff are 'very friendly, welcoming and professional'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to help the youngest children to consistently be able to freely explore during their play.