Kids Planet Henley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the setting ready to explore their environments. When children become upset or unsure, they quickly settle after a caring, reassuring cuddle from their key person. This demonstrates children have a secure relationship with their key person that supports their individual needs. Children spend time as they concentrate while using the tweezers to pick up cereal from a bowl. This helps build their pincer grip. Children actively participate in their outdoor storytelling as they lead their learning. They gleefully use their imagination as they tell staff what they think might happen next, and what the bear might want to eat.

Children show determination in their learning when they encounter difficulties; they keep on trying. For example, when building towers with staff, staff encourage children to think about how they can fix them when they fall down. Children excitedly tell staff how they will fix them. Staff provide children with an abundance of praise as they successfully rebuild their towers. They clap along with staff to celebrate their success. Children develop awareness of their emotions, and they are supported by staff to understand the different emotions they may feel. This helps promote emotional resilience. Children learn about the world around them as they learn about different cultural celebrations and festivals. For example, they explore rangoli patterns for Diwali.

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

• Managers and leaders have a clear ambitious vision for the nursery. They share future plans to continue to raise quality within the nursery. These include enhancing the outdoor provision to provide children with more space and more natural experiences to continue building on their learning.
• Staff provide a tailored curriculum that takes into consideration children's emerging interests. This covers all seven areas of learning and ensures children have broad experiences. Staff use assessments effectively to identify children's next steps and help close gaps in their learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have effective support in place. Staff work closely with the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and other professionals to ensure they get the right help, at the right time. This ensures all children are making good progress in their learning.
• Children explore a wide range of accessible experiences. Staff support children's understanding during activities to help build on their knowledge. However, at times, some quieter children may not get the same experiences and interactions as others. This results in them drifting their focus and moving away from the activity, which impacts on potential missed learning opportunities.
• Children generally behave well. Some staff acknowledge the unwanted behaviours. However, not all staff are consistent in their approach when handling behaviour. For example, they do not always provide a clear explanation as to why the behaviour is not acceptable. This means children may not fully understand expectations of their behaviours.
• Staff have regular supervisions and opportunities to discuss their children's development and their own professional development. They attend a range of training courses, including their own internal training academy. Managers are aware of the importance of supporting their staff to build a broad understanding of child development and give particular regard to promoting staff's well-being.
• Children confidently try things for themselves. Staff support them with their independence. For example, they help children to learn how to put their own coats on or to choose what they want for their snack. They support children in preparation for the next stage in their developmental journey.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Staff work with parents and share information about their child and what they are currently working on with their development. Managers identify support and advice from parents that they share in feedback. For example, they provide a range of activity bags that parents can take home, such as to support potty training or to help children to learn how to brush their teeth.
• Staff understand the importance of building muscles in children's mouths to help support development of speech. They recognise when it is appropriate to have discussions with parents when their baby is weaning to move them on to the next stage of finger food, which will help develop these muscles.
• Children enjoy a varied menu. Staff are vigilant at mealtimes and have clear guidance and procedures in place. This ensures children with allergies and dietary requirements have the correct meals.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide consistency with behaviour management to ensure all children fully understand the expectations of their behaviours
• ensure all children, including those that are less confident, have the same opportunities during activities to fully maximise their learning.