Kids Planet Worsley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager to start their day at the nursery. Older children are excited when they are greeted by familiar staff. Younger children settle easily with staff, who are genuinely happy to see them. Children seek out their friends and explore the activities already set up. Learning is based on children's interests and their experiences from home. This helps children to relate their learning to what they already know and can do. This includes those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff engage children in familiar stories and rhymes to build children's language and communication skills. They become ready for the next stage in their learning as they develop confidence in their own abilities.

Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They encourage children to share, to take turns and to use their manners. Staff manage disagreements between children very well. They speak with them at their level and encourage them to compromise. As a result of this, children play alongside each other happily and begin to understand their own feelings. Children who have not attended due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic are making good progress. Contact with staff during this time has helped parents continue their child's learning at home.

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

• Communication is a big focus when staff plan children's next steps in learning. Younger children actively engage in stories and songs, and they know the actions and the words. Staff introduce new vocabulary and concepts to build on children's knowledge. For example, while engaging in a water activity, staff commentate on the process of filling different containers with pipes at various heights. Children copy this and extend their learning by experimenting. Children gain an understanding of 'more', 'less', 'full', 'half' and many more mathematical concepts.
• Staff carefully plan activities that they know will interest and engage children and will build on children's prior learning. Children are curious and are keen to discover and to learn new things. Younger children enjoy finding favourite toys in shredded paper. Staff encourage them to keep trying and they persevere until they succeed. Older children explore sticky play dough with interest as they stretch, mould and shape it.
• Staff aim to give children experiences they may not otherwise have. For example, the idea to bring a reptile egg into the nursery was developed from children's interests in dinosaurs. Children watched daily as the egg hatched and now they care for a bearded dragon. Some children have recently attended local festivals and have shared their experiences with their friends. This resulted in a festival day at the nursery for everyone to take part in.
• Staff ask children for their ideas about how and what they learn which result in high levels of motivation and involvement. Children access the bathroom independently or with support, as necessary. Children feel safe and secure as staff attend to their needs. They know when to rest, when they need a drink and know the routine of the day. At times, staff do not recognise opportunities to encourage children's independence in self-care tasks.
• Staff have confidence in the management of the nursery. They report a manageable workload and how sharing information with parents is much easier with the software system that is in place. The management team has put systems in place to help staff support each other. These complement the meetings and the observations with staff that the management team regularly completes.
• Staff work well together to promote continuous improvement across the team. They regularly observe one another, provide helpful feedback and share their knowledge and expertise. This helps to improve the quality of practice, particularly teaching.
• Parents are extremely happy with the nursery and describe it as being a lifeline over the past few months. They know the staff and also know what their child is learning. They say they are kept informed of their child's development. New parents report how the staff work hard to get to know their child. Staff work in partnership with parents to help children settle in well.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan and to recognise opportunities to promote and to develop independence and self-care skills in younger children.