Kids Planet Eccleshill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The passionate manager creates a warm and welcoming nursery where children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress. Children arrive at nursery happy and motivated. They quickly settle into their age-related playrooms and engage with the broad range of activities provided for them. The manager's ambitious learning programmes support children to build on their prior knowledge and gain the skills they need to move smoothly between the nursery's playrooms and then eventually on to school. For example, children are encouraged to be independent and manage their personal needs, such as washing and drying their hands. Children behave well and are supported by the staff to understand their feelings and emotions.

Managers implement an effective key-person system, this supports children's emotional well-being. Staff develop strong bonds with their key children and build trusting relationships with parents. These secure relationships ensure that parents are kept well informed about their children's progress and development. For example, parents are invited to attend regular parent evenings. These meetings keep parents up to date with their children's development and outline what the children will be working on next. Parents are encouraged to support children's learning and development at home with tailored home learning packs.

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

• The manager effectively uses regular supervision meetings and peer-to-peer observations to identify strengths and weaknesses in staff practice. For example, the manager has identified that staff do not always allow children enough time to think and formulate their thoughts and ideas when they are asked questions. Plans to support staff to raise the quality of their interactions have not, as yet, been fully implemented. This means that children do not always experience interactions with adults of a high enough quality, and they are not consistently supported to develop their communication and language skills to an even higher level.
• Staff in every playroom support children to be independent and manage things by themselves. For example, babies spoon their batter into bun cases, older children serve their own food and pour their own drinks at lunch time. These skills help children prepare to move to their new room in nursery and eventually on to school.
• Staff support children's physical development very well. Children enjoy floor-based activities to help strengthen their core muscles and run around in the fresh air to raise their heart rates. They strengthen their small hand muscles by squeezing toothpaste out of tubes. Older children make unique designs by rolling and manipulating dough in their hands.
• Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their mathematical understanding. They regularly count with the children. Babies enjoy exploring shapes. Staff role model positional language as they discuss teeth brushing with children, remembering to brush the teeth at the back of their mouths.
• The special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) makes referrals to relevant professionals. Progress checks and key-person assessments effectively identify possible delays in children's development. She uses effective strategies to support children with SEND to make good progress.
• Children throughout the nursery participate in a number of routines as a large group. This includes moving from indoors to outdoors, from room to room, snack time and lunch. At times, these routines can become disorganised, and children lose focus and become disengaged. This means that children are not consistently supported to participate in routines and group activities.
• Parents are very happy with the service and compliment the caring staff. They report they receive lots of information about their children's development and are happy with the progress their children are making.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• fully implement the professional development plans in place in order to raise the quality of staff interactions with children, specifically in relation to communication and language development
• improve the organisation of the routines of the day and large group times to ensure that children are consistently engaged and benefit from the intended learning in the room.