Kids Planet Hagley Road

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Friendly and happy staff warmly welcome children and their parents into this safe and caring environment. Children separate easily from their parents and quickly settle into play, enjoying time with their friends. An effective key-person system means that staff and children build strong, nurturing relationships that support children's emotional security and well-being. Qualified staff are skilled at promoting children's well-being through responsive, nurturing interactions. They offer comfort and reassurance when needed, while encouraging children to become more independent. This supports children's personal development, helping them to feel secure and confident.

Staff deliver a broad, well-planned curriculum that meets each child's needs and interests through purposeful play. For instance, babies develop physical skills such as their hand-eye coordination and core strength as they sit on the floor to stack blocks. When older children show an interest in transport, staff extend learning by introducing mathematical concepts such as counting and shape recognition as children build different sized car shelters. These activities support early mathematics while fostering critical thinking and problem-solving. Staff promote positive behaviour through simple rules, such as 'kind hands', which provide children with consistent expectations and boundaries. Staff give regular praise to reinforce positive behaviour. Children behave consistently well.

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

• Staff understand the importance of developing children's communication skills from a very early age. They use baby signing alongside spoken language and visuals to support understanding. This supports children to communicate effectively before they can speak. Staff introduce ambitious, topic-related words, such as metamorphosis and chrysalis, that help to deepen children's understanding and broaden their vocabulary. Staff use key words in children's home languages to support communication for children who speak English as an additional language. Consequently, all children are supported to become confident and effective communicators.
• Staff have clear intentions for children's learning and plan a wide range of engaging experiences to support their development. They use questioning to encourage and extend children's thinking. However, staff do not always allow children sufficient time to process and respond before moving on or offering answers. As a result, opportunities to deepen thinking and further extend learning are occasionally missed.
• Staff work hard to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They have a strong understanding of each child's individual needs and work closely with parents and professionals to plan the right next steps. Additional funding is used thoughtfully to make the biggest impact. For example, the recent addition of a sensory room provides a calm space with tailored resources to support small-group interactions and meet individual needs effectively.
• Staff establish clear routines that help children understand what is expected of them, such as when to tidy away. Staff actively support children in learning how to assess and manage risks safely during play. However, transitions between activities, such as mealtimes, are not always managed consistently well. During these times, some children become disengaged or unsure of what to do next, which disrupts the flow of the day and reduces the overall effectiveness of the routine.
• Staff actively promote equality and diversity through carefully planned experiences and resources. Children learn about the wider community through outings, such as visits to Chinatown during Chinese New Year and by using public transport. The setting reflects the diverse backgrounds of staff and children, with multiple languages and cultures represented throughout the environment. Children engage in cultural activities, such as singing songs in Punjabi, which staff observe and encourage to further promote inclusion and cultural awareness.
• Leaders and staff work closely with parents to ensure a consistent approach to children's learning and development. Staff maintain regular communication with parents, fostering strong partnerships that support children's learning both at the setting and at home. Parents feel well informed and supported, expressing high levels of satisfaction and praising the staff and setting highly.
• Leaders provide a wealth of training to staff and conduct regular supervision sessions to support staff's well-being and identify training needs. This means that teaching standards are regularly monitored to raise the quality of education for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff give children enough time to think and respond, and consistently extend learning by exploring children's curiosity and building their vocabulary
• improve the management of transitions between activities to reduce waiting times and keep children engaged, ensuring smooth routines that maximise learning opportunities.