Kids Planet Horsforth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy coming to this happy nursery. Parents say children are buzzing with excitement after their day. Children develop warm relationships with caring staff. They show they are relaxed and content as they play and seek out staff for cuddles. Staff place high priority on supporting children's emotional well-being by teaching children about their feelings. They encourage children to be 'kind friends'. They support children in being ready for changes, such as starting school or becoming a sibling. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They help children regulate their behaviour, working with parents to provide consistent approaches, where necessary.

Leaders plan an inclusive curriculum that is ambitious for all children. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those learning to speak English as an additional language are supported well. Additional funding is used effectively to support children's learning. Overall, the curriculum is implemented effectively by dedicated staff. This ensures that all children make good progress and are ready for the next stage of education. Staff plan activities based on what they know children are interested in and what they need to learn next. Children benefit from a wide variety of activities, which focus on fun, learning and keeping healthy. This helps children have a positive attitude, concentrate and join in.

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

• Staff are very effective at teaching babies and younger children new words. Babies enjoy dancing and babbling along as staff sing to them. Staff use pictures and actions to help children learning to speak English as an additional language. This supports children to develop early language skills. At times, however, chances to teach older children more challenging words or engage them in detailed discussions are overlooked by staff. On these occasions, some children do not make as much progress in their learning as they could.
• Staff ensure children always have access to books. Children readily look at books in cosy areas in each room. Families borrow books from the nursery's lending library. Staff provide a relaxing bedtime routine, including bedtime stories for those children who stay at the nursery until later in the day. These experiences support children to develop a love of books, early literacy skills and provide home learning ideas for parents.
• Staff plan lots of opportunities for children to develop physical skills. For example, staff provide attractive toys and spaces, which encourage babies to reach and move towards them. Toddlers practise balancing on obstacle courses, they run and jump as they play outside. This helps them build their large muscles. Children learn to use cutlery and serve themselves at mealtimes. Staff teach older children to hold pencils to practise mark making with control and dexterity.
• Staff use routines very effectively to support children's growing independence. For example, babies crawl to the snack table. They try to put on their own bibs and feed themselves. Older children responsibly set the dining tables and pour their own drinks. They help others who are not yet confident in pouring from a large jug. Parents say that they are impressed that staff teach children to put on their own coats and shoes. These skills help children to develop self-confidence and take pride in their achievements.
• Staff demonstrate positive attitudes and friendly relationships towards their peers and children. They remind children of 'kind hands' and 'walking feet'. Staff model polite manners, which children copy. Hence, children's behaviour is good throughout nursery. Staff take children on trips into the local community and areas of interest. They teach children about their own and others' cultures through celebrations and special days. This helps children learn about themselves and different people.
• Leaders seek feedback from families, schools, children and staff to help them identify areas of the nursery to improve. For example, staff now explore more events with children after parent's feedback. Leaders also monitor the quality of practice in nursery to support nursery improvement planning. However, this does not always identify slight inconsistencies in how well the curriculum is delivered. This means that, on occasion, specific support required to improve practice is not identified.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop high-quality staff communication skills across the nursery to maximise learning opportunities for all children
• refine systems for monitoring to enable leaders to ensure the curriculum is consistently and effectively implemented across the nursery.