Kiddiwinx Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a warm and welcoming environment where children feel safe and secure. Children enter the nursery with ease and excitement and are delighted to greet staff and their friends. They settle quickly as they are instantly absorbed in their self-chosen activities.

Staff plan a broad and stimulating curriculum that is carefully sequenced and builds on what children already know and can do. For example, the younger children use simple images to express their feelings and emotions. Older children make reference to a much-loved story where colours represent a range of feelings and emotions. Children are fully supported to reach their potential and achieve good outcomes. Children thrive in this inclusive and stimulating environment.

Staff work well as a team and are very good role models. They help children to develop positive relationships with one another. Children are extremely well behaved and demonstrate good turn-taking skills. They listen carefully and respond with positivity to instructions. Children demonstrate a good understanding of safety procedures. For instance, staff teach children how to keep safe on stairs. Children demonstrate their understanding of safety rules as they hold on to handrails and navigate stairs with care. Staff support children effectively to develop the skills they will need for moving on to school.

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

• The whole team is very committed and strives to continually improve and develop the provision. The manager works collaboratively with staff and other professionals to provide children with good support and engaging learning experiences. For example, careful consideration has been given to the organisation of the space available to the youngest children. This helps to effectively meet their care and learning needs. Staff access training and work effectively with other professionals to provide early interventions and meaningful support, helping children to make good progress.
• Staff plan enjoyable opportunities that build on what children know and can do. They identify children's individual next steps in their learning, knowing what they want to teach them next and why. This enables children to strengthen their knowledge. However, occasionally, staff do not use all opportunities to follow children's lead and extend their learning. For instance, when children offer information to them during activities, the staff do not consistently provide more or new information to extend children's knowledge.
• Staff place a strong focus on developing children's communication and language skills. For instance, they emphasise new and key words during interactions to help enhance children's understanding. Staff use gestures and clear demonstrations to help children make links between new words and the word meaning.
• Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. They support children to balance, climb and use ride-on toys in the spacious nursery garden. Children have lots of opportunities in the 'messy room' to practise their fine motor skills as they make independent choices from a range of tools and materials available to them. For instance, children have fun modelling dough, carefully using scissors to cut their creations, and use pump dispensers to help themselves to different-coloured paints.
• Children develop positive relationships with one another and staff. Staff use mealtimes as an opportunity to promote children's social skills. For example, they sit with children and initiate meaningful conversations. Children gain a good understanding of healthy lifestyles. For instance, they routinely follow good hygiene routines, such as washing their hands before snack and mealtimes. Children are learning about healthy food choices as they engage in mealtime discussions with staff and their friends.
• Parents value the care and attention that staff provide for children. They comment that children have 'come on in leaps and bounds' since attending the nursery. Parents receive information about what their children have been doing each day and how they are progressing.
• Staff gain some relevant information from parents and carers when children start at the nursery and during daily handovers. This helps them to plan around children's interests and their individual learning and development needs. However, information about children's backgrounds is not always shared with the staff, enabling each key person to develop a thorough understanding of children's family backgrounds. Children are not consistently encouraged to reflect on their similarities and differences and celebrate what makes them unique.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise more opportunities to extend children's learning further, particularly when they offer information during activities
• strengthen information-sharing to help staff fully understand children's individual backgrounds, reflecting on their differences and celebrating what makes them unique.