Kaleidascope Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager to start their day. Families are warmly greeted by friendly and approachable staff, who know them well. Children are happy and secure. Staff use what they know about children to plan interesting and motivating activities. For example, they set up an attractive play dough table, where children delight in making their own birthday cakes and pretending to blow out candles. Staff have high expectations for all children. The teaching is of a good quality, and all children make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff successfully prioritise children's language development and early literacy skills. Children enjoy snuggling on the large sofa with staff, listening to stories and making the letters of their names with the play dough.

Staff are good role models, praising children and celebrating their achievements. Children are kind to each other. They help their friends by showing them how to wash up their plates after snack time. Children tell adults what they have done, proudly showing them what that they have written with chalks on the easel. Children demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning. Staff use children's interests well to create an environment that supports their knowledge and skills. For example, staff encourage children to count higher when making candles for their birthday cakes.

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

• Leaders and managers are passionate about supporting children and families. They talk confidently about putting them at the heart of what they do. They are committed to continually developing their practice and provision. They have recently introduced new initiatives and ideas to support planning and have reorganised the environment to support children's individual needs. Staff plan a challenging curriculum.
• Staff support children's language development very well. They liaise closely with the local authority to support children with SEND. Staff use sign language and visual cues to help them. Children who are not speaking when they first start become confident talkers.
• Staff encourage a love of stories. They encourage families to borrow books from the setting. Children enjoy joining in with favourite rhymes and songs. They are excited to copy the actions when staff start singing the 'tidy up' song. Books are plentiful, and staff have created cosy book areas, which children explore frequently.
• Staff are very responsive to children, such as when they are approached for a cuddle. They laugh together when children tickle them with feathers. Staff play alongside children and pose challenges. They offer genuine praise, saying, 'That is amazing!', when children approach them with models they have made. Staff suggest ideas that inspire children to think about how they could adapt their models.
• Children and families benefit from the strong links that the setting has in the local community. Staff proactively seek advice and support from external agencies and the nearby children's centre. They provide families with information about how they can support their children's learning and development at home. However, these arrangements are not as effective for parents who speak English as an additional language (EAL).
• Overall, staff promote children's independence well. For example, children confidently wash their hands, get their own plates, and wash these up themselves. They teach children how to safely use knives to cut up their snacks. However, at other times, staff do not offer children enough opportunities to master skills that are within their capabilities. For example, staff are sometimes too quick to step in to complete tasks, such as opening children's lunch boxes and putting their coats on, for them.
• Parents talk highly of the progress their children have made, particularly with language and mathematics. In addition, they say that their children enjoy the art and craft activities provided. Parents report that the staff are kind and caring and that their children 'love them'. They talk about how flexible and adaptable the members of the staff team are.
• Staff feel well supported by leaders and managers. Leaders and managers ensure that staff have supervision and monitoring opportunities. Staff comment that working at the setting is 'like being part of a family' and that they 'love' coming to work. They are positive about the opportunities they have to develop their knowledge and skills further. They enjoy participating in training days with the provider's other setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when to encourage children to complete manageable tasks more fully, to support their developing independence
• strengthen the ways information is shared with parents who speak EAL, to help them understand more fully how they can contribute to their children's learning and development at home.