Kids Planet Westerhope

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Attentive staff provide warm, gentle and consistent care. This helps to create a supportive atmosphere where children feel safe and content. Routines flow with the children's needs, which helps to ensure that their physical and emotional well-being is supported very well. Babies happily explore the environment, showing trust in the nurturing staff. Older children are extremely confident. They introduce themselves to the inspector and chat about what they like to do in nursery.

The curriculum helps all children to make progress and achieve well. Overall, staff support their learning effectively. For example, they join in a 'party' that children plan and encourage them to use their imagination and extend their ideas. Staff's accurate assessments of children's learning help to identify priorities for the curriculum. For example, they know that some children need more support with their language skills, and this becomes a strong focus during activities. Children become increasingly articulate and develop confidence in their speaking.

Relationships between staff and children reflect a culture of respect and kindness. Children demonstrate strong social skills, taking their friends by the hand to join them in their play. Staff model positive behaviours. They clearly explain their expectations, which helps children to understand boundaries and to learn right from wrong. Children learn good manners, for example, when they politely say 'excuse me please' when approaching staff to talk to them.

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

• The nursery is filled with laughter and smiles. Staff take account of children's interests and plan enjoyable activities that appeal to them. This inspires children, and they are eager to join in. Babies explore musical instruments and wiggle to the sounds they make. Toddlers splash in the water tray, enjoying the barefoot experience. Older children concentrate while planting seeds. Children are curious and happy learners.
• Children's personal, social and language development are a priority for staff. They diligently focus on these areas of development, which helps to give children a secure foundation for their learning. However, this emphasis slightly limits the curriculum breadth across other areas of learning. For example, staff do not plan as consistently to support older children's literacy and mathematical development to help children to strengthen their good skills and knowledge even further.
• Physical development is supported very well. Key staff provide guidance and coaching to children to help them to develop their strength, balance and coordination. Children make particularly good progress in this area of learning. They run and climb with confidence. They demonstrate increasing physical ability and resilience, for example, during outdoor play. They try hard and keep going when moving across the obstacle course in the garden.
• Leaders have developed a bespoke programme to evaluate their provision. They scrutinise practice and identify minor aspects of teaching to strengthen. For example, they note that staff do not always support children to build knowledge with the right level of challenge, and some children lack the prior skills needed to succeed. However, this programme is in the early stages of implementation.
• Parents feel very involved in their children's early education. They welcome staff's guidance for supporting children's learning at home and appreciate how well they know their children. Partnerships with other professionals help staff to provide tailored learning plans for children. This is particularly effective for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They are supported extremely well to fully participate in nursery life and to learn more.
• Children show increasing concentration skills and resilience. Staff encourage their independent exploration, while quickly noticing those who might need some support in their play. For example, they join children at the train track and show them how to take their train up and down the hill. Children show a love of learning. They develop positive attitudes that help to prepare them well for later life and learning.
• During familiar routines, such as meal times, staff teach children about ways to stay healthy. For example, children learn why they must wash their hands and talk about the benefits of the freshly cooked, healthy meals that they enjoy. Plenty of opportunities for fresh air and exercise further support their physical and mental well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to implement the curriculum for mathematics and literacy more consistently to help children to make even better progress in these areas of learning
• strengthen staff's understanding of how to sequence the curriculum and help children to build even more successfully on what they already know and can do.