Kiddy Kapers Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and speak English as an additional language, enjoy attending this caring and welcoming nursery. Staff help children to settle when they start attending. As existing children arrive, they are pleased to see the staff and say are quick to hello. Relationships are positive between the children and the staff. Babies bob up and down and clap their hands as staff sing songs to them. Toddlers enthusiastically draw pictures and smile with pride when staff comment on their efforts. Pre-school children become engrossed in role play activities and thoroughly enjoy the positive interaction from staff who play alongside them. The staff know the children well. They take account of their interests when planning activities, which encourages children to be curious and take part. Staff are mindful of how to support children to extend their learning further.

Children are curious and motivated to explore. For example, they talk with staff about autumn leaves as they go on walks to the local country park. To extend and continue this interest, staff provide leaves for children to play with in the water tray and talk to them about the colours and different textures. Children show they are confident at nursery as they choose what they want to do and eagerly help tidy away at the end of the session.

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

• The management team has addressed the issues raised at the last inspection. They have raised the profile of safeguarding in the nursery. Staff have received training and have regular discussions relating to safeguarding policy and procedures. Managers show a commitment to staff's well-being and support staff to have autonomy in their group rooms to meet the children's needs. For example, staff change the layout of the rooms to meet children's needs and spend significant amounts of time interacting and playing with the children.
• Overall, the staff at this nursery are effective in their teaching. They play alongside children and ask them about what they are doing. For example, when pre-school children build with stacking toys and make a tower in the garden, staff ask them what they think will happen as it gets higher and higher. Children show delight and anticipation as their tower gets taller. Staff promote children's developing awareness of numbers. They sing songs that include numbers, counting up and down and encourage children to use their fingers to reflect the number they are singing about.
• Children learn to behave well. Staff plan activities to interest and challenge them. They are attentive to the children's needs and encourage them to play together and share resources. Children who have SEND are supported effectively, and activities are adapted so they can join in with their friends. Some staff are less confident when managing minor behaviour incidents and do not act consistently to help children understand what staff expect of them.
• Children in each group room take part in regular singing and story sessions with staff. They enjoy joining in with familiar parts of the stories and the actions of songs. Some group activities are not pitched correctly for all children taking part. This results in some children losing interest and becoming distracted.
• Staff promote children's emotional well-being effectively. They develop positive relationships with children, which helps them develop a sense of belonging at the nursery. Staff encourage children to become independent. Pre-school children serve themselves at mealtimes and clean their teeth after lunch. They look in the mirror to check their teeth after brushing. Babies and toddlers are gently settled to sleep at nap time. Staff stay with children who are asleep and regularly check their well-being.
• Parents speak very positively about the nursery. They like that the staff are approachable and how they support their children to make the best progress. Parents comment about how staff work individually with them to help their children settle in and how they work with other professionals who are involved with their children. Parents say how happy their children are at the nursery and how the staff provide them with a wide range of activities they thoroughly enjoy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the organisation of group activities to ensure that they meet each child's needs and maintain their interest
• develop staff skills to provide a consistent approach when managing children's behaviour so children know what staff expect of them.