Kiddywinks Neighbourhood Nursery And Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The management team and staff have made positive changes to the curriculum. Staff plan activities and experiences that build on what children know and can do. They have made changes to the play spaces to encourage children to be creative, develop physical skills and learn about the wider world.

Staff interact with children, helping them to maintain attention and concentration as they play. Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is great. Staff use interventions well to make sure all children are included. They use signs as well as words to support children's talking. All children make good progress with their communication.

Staff take advantage of spontaneous events, such as the arrival of the sand for the sand tray. Children find the buckets and spades and go outdoors with staff to collect the sand. Older children learn about the planets after noticing the moon was out during the day. Staff help children look up facts about the planets. Children make models and create displays to show what they have learned.

Younger children enjoy their newly refurbished play spaces. They explore natural materials, mix foam and paint together, and pretend that cardboard boxes are trains. Staff encourage children to keep trying. They help children to put on coats and shoes to go outdoors. Children smile as they receive praise for their efforts.

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

• The management team has improved support for all staff. Staff understand their roles and access professional development to enhance practice. They feed back on training they complete and use it to build on teaching skills. Staff share information with each other about what children need to learn next. They include children's interests in plans to help make activities engaging and challenging.
• Babies are inquisitive and develop physical skills. Staff help them as they try to free toy animals frozen in ice. The children use hands to melt the ice. Staff comment on how the heat from the children's hands turns the ice into water. They provide a hammer and help children to use this to break the ice. Staff hold the hammer with the children and model how hitting the ice breaks it apart. Children extract the animals and notice that the toy camel has lost one leg. They tell staff they need to hit the ice hard to break it up.
• Children behave well and show consideration for others. Older children share the scissors and glue, saying 'please' and 'thank you' to each other. They work together to build with the large wooden blocks. Children take turns to add blocks onto their construction. They discuss what they are doing and make decisions about what they will add next. Staff talk with the children, encouraging them to explain what they are making. Sometimes, staff miss opportunities to enhance children's learning. They do not encourage children to think deeper about what they are doing and to further extend ideas.
• The manager and staff have improved how they share information with parents. Staff tell parents what children are learning in the nursery and provide laminated cards about what they need to learn next. Staff provide 'home packs' for children and parents to do at home. The packs contain activities to support children's communication, mathematics and emotional development. Parents have recently been to an 'open evening'. Staff shared the new curriculum as well as showing parents the changes to the play spaces. Parents comment that staff provide excellent support for children. They talk favourably about the way staff work with other professionals to help children make progress.
• Children make choices about how they want to play and learn. They know where to find the toys and equipment to play with. However, sometimes, staff do not encourage children to care for the play spaces effectively. For example, at tidy up time, staff are distracted by children talking and asking questions. Children continue to play as they are not encouraged to put the toys away.
• Children enjoy listening to stories. Staff ask questions to encourage children to recall characters and the sequence of events. Children recall names and remember letter sounds matching them to the word in the book. Younger children copy staff as they tell them new words or use signs to let them know that they want a drink or more snack.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide clearer support for children to help them understand how they can care for their play environments and toys
• continue to build on interactions with children in ways that enhance learning and development.