Kids Planet Swinton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive good-quality education and care in this community-orientated nursery. They arrive happy and are greeted with positivity from the welcoming staff team. Staff help children to develop a love of books and reading. They extend this by providing home learning bags so that parents can support children further. Staff make the best use of time to help embed learning. For example, while waiting for food to arrive at mealtimes, they encourage children to identify their own unique facial features and those of their friends. Staff build close bonds with children, which helps them to feel safe. They provide gentle cuddles as babies awake. Older children joke with staff. As staff intentionally answer questions incorrectly to test out children's knowledge, children say, 'Don't be so silly.'

Children show their imagination as they make pretend meals for visitors. They recall prior learning and correctly identify the vegetables in their creation. Staff help babies to develop their core stability and hand-eye coordination as they sit and practise rolling balls to each other. Staff help children to explore textures and scents during their play. They introduce children to new vocabulary about the herbs they can smell. Staff help children to become good citizens. For example, on outings in the local area, they leave gifts for people to find as random acts of kindness.

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

• Staff demonstrate a secure understanding of how children learn and develop. They use this knowledge to implement the manager's ambitious curriculum, which is gradually sequenced throughout the nursery. A wealth of highly effective support is in place for the children who need it the most. This helps to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. Staff working with young children model back-and-forth interactions and use lots of narration and repetition. Staff working with older children utilise every opportunity to promote positive interactions, extend their vocabulary and prepare them for the next stage of their learning. For example, the 'golden rules' of the nursery teach children kindness, tolerance and respect for others in an age-appropriate way. Children consistently follow these high expectations.
• Children have a range of opportunities to develop their independence and self-care skills. For example, during mealtimes, children are encouraged to serve themselves and to tidy away their plates when they have finished. Staff introduce new vocabulary, such as 'peel', 'core' and 'segment', as they encourage the children to chop their own fruit. Children relish in the opportunity to be given tasks and responsibilities during these purposeful daily routines.
• Mealtimes are a calm and social experience where children's social skills are supported.
• Parents comment on the strong partnerships with their children's key person. They praise the consistent and clear information they receive to support their children's ongoing development and the tailored approach to each child. As a result, any emerging gaps are rapidly focused on, and specific support helps children to make the progress they are capable of. For example, children are emotionally well prepared to welcome new siblings to their family.
• Leaders have given great consideration to helping children learn about their local community with greater meaning and purpose. They educate children about local artists and help the children to create their own unique creations in that style. In doing so, staff also help children to learn about aspects of local history. In addition, staff help children to learn what makes the community unique in the modern day. Staff learn from the lived experiences of the diverse families who attend the nursery. Children are provided with rich experiences that are relevant to them.
• Staff comment positively on the support for their well-being and manageable workloads. However, it remains that leaders have more to do to ensure consistency in the quality of staff practice across the nursery. Some staff are not as confident in supporting children to develop their independence skills, in modelling speech well, or the consistent use of effective questioning to establish children's understanding of new subjects. Leaders are aware of this inconsistency. However, they have not had sufficient time to implement the support needed to strengthen practice, to best implement the intended curriculum.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen arrangements for staff training and development, to support staff to consistently implement the intended curriculum.