Kids Love Nature Kindergarten Lytchett

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive incredibly happy and confident. They greatly benefit from an extensive and ambitious curriculum, which includes a strong focus on communication and language. Children relish exploring and learning independently with the skilled support of the passionate and knowledgeable staff. Whether they are practising their throwing and catching in the garden or exploring the vegetables at the allotment, they play extremely kindly and considerately together. Children have an excellent understanding of how their behaviour can affect each other's feelings. They show respect and appreciate the similarities and differences between themselves and others extremely well.

Exceptional staff have high expectations for all children. Their knowledge of children's next steps and individual learning needs is outstanding. Staff use children's interests extremely effectively to highly challenge and inspire children. This supports every child successfully, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to make the best possible progress. As a result, children excel in all areas of learning. Staff skilfully plan enticing activities in the orchard and allotment. Children are highly motivated to take part and remain engaged for extended periods of time. For example, children excitedly look for butterflies and bees in the pollination beds. They count and talk about shapes as they carefully handle the vegetables and explore mathematical concepts. Staff model new language, such as 'pollination', as children become completely absorbed in meaningful learning.

Partnerships with parents are highly effective. They are fully involved in their child's care and learning and benefit from the excellent levels of communication about their child's time in the nursery.

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

• Children demonstrate extremely high levels of patience, self-control and determination. Children thoroughly enjoy working together, using different resources to create bridges and platforms. They demonstrate a wide vocabulary as they explore and solve problems, using words such as 'twist' and 'turn' as they place the blocks and pieces of wood together. Children take it in turns to walk along and over their creations, practising their balancing skills.
• Children have amazing opportunities that teach them about healthy and active lifestyles. For example, they grow fruit and vegetables and know and understand about the growth process from seed to them eating them for lunch. Children tend to the fruit and vegetables before harvesting them in preparation for eating. There are extensive grounds for children to explore, promoting their physical development.
• Management and staff invite parents to online workshops that focus on topics that are relevant to them, such as potty training, eating or sleeping. This securely promotes consistency in supporting children's learning at home.
• Staff provide exceptional support for children who have SEND and children who need additional help or support. Staff work extremely closely in partnership with other professionals and outside agencies. Management provides specific training to help staff gain a deeper understanding of issues around children's behaviours, such as biting, to successfully ensure that they support all children extremely well.
• Management prioritises staff's well-being. Managers have heavily invested in staff's professional development to continually build on the exceptionally high standard of teaching and superb quality of children's learning and development experiences. Management and staff are exceptionally reflective, committed and dedicated to meeting each child's individual needs extremely well. Skilled staff use a 'deep focus' learning approach to ensure they have deep-rooted knowledge of each child to continually extend and maximise their learning. Children are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage in their learning and starting school.
• Staff are inspirational in the way they plan meticulously to extend children's learning. Children make and fly handmade kites. They learn about wind energy concepts and recycling. Children enjoy exploring nature and pick up litter as they contribute to looking after their community and the environment.
• Children thoroughly enjoy exploring yoga or using their imagination well, and they develop their creative side in the art studio. Children develop a love of books and stories, inside and outdoors. The use of books and print for reference supports children exceptionally well in the development of their communication and language.
• Staff who care for the babies and the youngest children are exceptionally warm and nurturing. Babies show that they feel extremely secure as they snuggle in for cuddles or sit on the lap of staff to sing songs and rhymes. Children from an early age have a 'can-do' attitude as they have excellent opportunities to develop independence skills. They wash their hands independently or pour water from a jug into a glass. Managers go above and beyond to ensure that they facilitate children's independence as effectively as possible. For example, they have lowered the sink in the baby room so that children can access this easily. Babies sleep in low-level inviting sleep spaces called 'coracles' so that they become capable of making choices about their own routines.