Kids Planet Southport

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a calm, welcoming atmosphere where children's well-being is prioritised. They spend time getting to know children's individual needs right from the start. Staff are friendly and nurturing and this helps children to settle easily and become confident to explore and learn. Children eagerly access the exciting environments that capture their imagination and curiosity. They seek out their friends and invite them into their play. For example, children invite their friends to their 'tea party'. They use their imaginations as they blow the food, as it 'might be hot'. Leaders plan an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum. They focus on ensuring the prime areas of learning are prioritised, and overall, this is implemented well. Leaders have embedded clear systems to identify if children would benefit from any additional help in their learning. Staff have established close relationships with families and other agencies, and they use their expertise to ensure all children get the support that they need. All children make good progress in their learning.

Staff regularly talk to children about emotions and feelings. They use a gentle approach to supporting children's behaviour. They are consistent in their approach, and children know and follow their expectations. For example, children are kind as they gently rock and cover up baby dolls and share out resources with their friends. Staff support children's self-esteem as they encourage children to talk about their skills. As children attempt to throw balls into the basketball hoop, they discuss how this used to be tricky but that they can do it now. These experiences contribute positively to children's personal, social and emotional development.

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

• Staff have seamlessly embedded routines throughout the setting that children know and follow. Children's independence flourishes throughout these times. For example, staff teach children the importance of maintaining good hygiene as they encourage them to wash their own hands and talk to them about germs. Even the youngest children have a go at feeding themselves. Older children serve their own food and pour their own drinks. As spillages occur, they independently wipe these up.
• Leaders continually evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of the provision, staff practice and children's progress. They have implemented robust procedures for staff supervision and training that value staff's individual learning styles. Staff benefit from the focused training opportunities they receive that are targeted to build on their skills and focus on the needs of the children. Leaders' commitment to continuous improvement is highly evident.
• Staff know their key children's interests and levels of development. However, when planning adult-led activities, they focus on themes for the nursery, and the learning intention is not always clear. Children are eager to take part in these experiences, but these activities do not consistently build on what children already know and what they need to learn next. As a result, activities do not always have the maximum impact on supporting children's individual learning.
• Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language development. Staff are skilled at engaging children in natural and meaningful interactions. They model language and narrate children's play, which helps children to hear lots of new vocabulary. As children show an interest in minibeasts in books, staff introduce new words such as 'grasshopper'. Staff suggest making 'telescopes' so they can look for minibeasts together in the garden. Children become confident communicators.
• The well-resourced environment provides many opportunities for children to improve their hand-eye coordination. Children delight as they squeeze fruit into water and talk about what they can smell. Children show great control as they accurately scoop sand into containers using different-sized utensils. Older children develop good pencil grip as they draw and proudly talk about their pictures. Children are supported to develop the dexterity and hand-eye coordination that help with their later writing skills.
• Staff skilfully include mathematics during everyday activities. Babies explore interestingly shaped objects as they fill and empty them from different-sized containers. Staff introduce language such as 'more' and 'less'. As older children search for bugs outside, staff encourage them to count how many legs the bugs have. Older children quickly recognise numbers up to 10 as they see them in the environment. Children make good progress with their early mathematical skills.
• Staff provide cosy spaces and thoughtfully place books around the setting for children to access freely. They read aloud to children with enthusiasm. Children eagerly vote for their favourite stories. They show anticipation and join in with the words that they have remembered from the book. Staff teach children about the roles of the author and illustrator. Children make links to other books they have enjoyed by the same author. These opportunities help to foster children's love and respect for books.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine the planning of activities so there is a sharper focus on the intentions for children's individual next steps in learning.