Kids Planet Halesowen

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children's emotional well-being is given high priority by managers and staff. Children arrive happily at the nursery and receive a warm greeting from the kind and friendly staff. They settle in very quickly and rapidly build their confidence. Children are keen to approach new people and invite them to join in with their play. This demonstrates that they feel secure in their environment.

Staff meticulously plan interesting and exciting activities and experiences that ignite children's desire to learn. Babies express delight as they use instruments to join in with songs and rhymes. They learn about different body parts and practise moving around in different ways. Toddler-age children develop their coordination skills as they use a variety of tools to manipulate dough. Older children thrive as they learn how to count while making 'potions'. They skilfully use pipettes to transport liquids, which develops their small hand muscles in readiness for writing.

Staff have high expectations of all children and encourage them to become independent from an early age. Children make choices about their own meals and use utensils to serve these onto their plates. They practise using jugs to pour their own water. Staff encourage children to manage their own self-care as they talk them through the steps to wipe their own noses.

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

• The management team are committed and dedicated professionals who want the best for every child who attends. They have carefully planned a well-sequenced curriculum that gives children a breadth of knowledge, skills and experiences. The curriculum is monitored closely by managers to ensure it focuses on any gaps in children's development. This supports all children to make good progress in their learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good levels of support. Staff work swiftly to identify and respond to any delays in children's development. Individual plans are implemented in a timely way. All staff who work with children know and understand what they need to be supported to learn next. This means that children receive the help they need to reach their potential.
• Staff continuously expose children to new language. They use a varied and rich range of vocabulary throughout their interactions. Staff frequently sing to children and engage them in reading stories, which helps to develop their love for reading. However, sometimes opportunities for children to practise and repeat the language they are exposed to are limited, which hinders their progress to become excellent and fluent communicators.
• Children throughout the nursery behave extremely well. Staff are kind and considerate when helping young children to regulate their emotions. They gently explain what is expected of them and encourage them to achieve this. Older children are eager to have their excellent and kind behaviours recognised through 'kindness leaves', which are displayed in the room.
• Children's health and well-being are promoted by staff. Children learn to develop good hygiene practices from a young age. They know how and when to wash their hands. Children enjoy a varied range of healthy and nutritious meals and snacks. They benefit from plenty of opportunities to play outdoors, where they gain fresh air and exercise.
• Staff comment that they feel extremely well supported by managers. Their well-being is important within the organisation, with ample recognition and support schemes in place. Managers provide staff with regular meetings to discuss their role, which helps to promote the interests of all children attending.
• Managers are highly reflective individuals. They use self-evaluation and monitoring well and know where further development is needed. Managers take appropriate action when weaknesses or issues arise. Staff access a broad and varied range of training and professional development opportunities. However, the focus of this does not yet build enough on staff's teaching skills so that they can stretch and extend children's learning even further.
• Parents are highly complimentary of the nursery. They praise staff and say that their children love attending. Parents build professional relationships with their child's key person. They receive clear information about what their child is learning next. Managers provide a vast range of resources, which are made available to parents to continue to build on children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to identify more opportunities for children to practise and use their communication and language skills
• focus more precisely on professional development opportunities that help staff stretch and extend children's learning even further.