Kids In Motion

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive with enthusiasm and settle in quickly at this exceptionally welcoming and well-organised nursery. A fully established key-person system meets each child's individual needs very effectively. Children form strong relationships with staff and their peers. This helps them to feel safe and secure. Staff support and strengthen children's well-being through highly effective daily routines, where they learn to express their feelings and emotions in positive ways. As a result, children's confidence grows, they behave well and develop strong skills in resilience and self-regulation.

Managers and staff create excellent opportunities by working closely with external partners to nurture a strong sense of responsibility in children. For example, they work with local charities to engage children in meaningful activities, such as gardening and planting. Through this initiative, children take part in growing programmes where they plant seeds, care for the crops, harvest the produce and donate it to foodbanks. This hands-on experience offers children a real way to contribute to their community and helps to foster compassion and empathy from an early age.

The entire team has a strong understanding of each child's interests. They consider this to plan an exceptionally stimulating environment. Staff actively engage in children's play, expertly modelling learning while giving children the freedom to explore and try things for themselves. This ensures that all children make remarkable progress from their starting points in development.

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

• Managers and staff have a clear vision for what they want children to achieve. They plan and implement a well-structured and broad curriculum effectively, which supports all children to thrive and make the best possible progress. Through careful observations, all staff gain a deep understanding of each child's developmental stage and interests. They use this knowledge to plan engaging and stimulating activities that are tailored to meet each child's next steps in learning.
• Staff reinforce children's prior learning, such as how to use tools safely, helping children to develop a solid understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Children quickly become deeply engaged in activities that allow them to take risks and develop their independence. For instance, they enhance their hand-eye coordination and concentrate carefully while using knives to cut their own fruit during snack time.
• The nursery provides resources that support children's language development, including tools and songs in their home languages and English, promoting bilingualism. Staff also incorporate cultural diversity through activities for children, such as exploring cultural attire, learning about festivals and offering a multicultural lunch menu. This helps children to take pride in their identity and respect others.
• Children who are learning English as an additional language receive excellent support. Staff learn key words in children's home languages and use visual prompts and carefully chosen language to assist them. All children also benefit from learning French, with older children confidently learning about numbers, letters and basic words in French during their play.
• Staff make the most of every opportunity to engage children in meaningful conversations. They use insight from training sessions to interact effectively with all children, model play and expand their language skills. For example, while using planting props to revisit recent activities, staff discuss the life cycle of plants with children. As a result, children eagerly participate, confidently using vocabulary, such as 'stem', to talk about plants.
• Highly effective systems are in place to monitor children's progress in their learning. This allows staff to quickly identify and address any gaps in children's development. Staff collaborate closely with parents and carers and other agencies to support children to achieve positive outcomes. Parents highly commend staff for their support, noting significant improvements in their children's physical, social and communication skills since joining the nursery.
• Children consistently show positive attitudes towards their learning. Staff collaborate closely with the nursery's extra-curricular coach, who specialises in helping children to develop their physical skills. Younger children thoroughly enjoy baby yoga sessions, which significantly enhance their core strength, coordination and balance.
• Staff plan outdoor learning experiences that encourage children to explore nature, such as planting herbs, which they later harvest for cooking activities. Children also explore different concepts, such as what happens when various materials are added to water. These experiences help children to engage in early scientific exploration.
• Staff consistently express a high regard for the managers, praising their strong leadership. They appreciate the managers' commitment to professional development, which ensures that they are well supported and motivated to continually improve.