Kids World Havercroft

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time in this welcoming, lively setting. Overall, they benefit from a curriculum that is designed to help them achieve their potential. Children access a variety of interesting resources that enable them to make choices about their learning. They engage well overall and build on what they already know. For instance, children extend their counting and physical skills during a game of hopscotch.

Children's social development is promoted through cooperative play where they share ideas, listen to each other and solve problems. For example, children work out why water does not flow smoothly through the channels they have made from drainpipes. Children behave well because they are busy and motivated to learn. Any unwanted behaviour is quickly addressed by calm and patient staff who remind children about being kind.

The familiar routines of the nursery help children to feel safe and secure and prepare them for the routines they will experience in school. Staff remind them about the importance of listening and following instructions. Children develop their independence in personal care through good hygiene routines. They take responsibility for tidying away toys after their play. Babies snuggle in cosy cots with soft blankets when they are ready for a nap.

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

• Staff complete accurate assessments of children's progress in partnership with parents. Where children have gaps in their learning, leaders are proactive in seeking support from other professionals to ensure children have any additional help they need to catch up. Staff use the information they gather to plan an inviting learning environment and experiences that support children's good progress.
• Children build on their literacy and communication skills when they share favourite stories. Staff read, pausing frequently to see if older children can remember what happens next. They give children time to think and answer simple questions. Staff introduce new words, such as pickles and watermelon, to extend children's vocabulary. However, leaders have not considered how the different languages children speak at home can be used to enhance their developing communication and language skills.
• Babies are happy and confident. They smile and laugh during highly positive interactions with attentive staff. Staff sing frequently to babies, modelling language and familiar rhymes. They encourage them to babble and repeat the sounds they make back to them. Staff use lots of facial expressions and physical gestures to demonstrate emotions, such as surprise and wonder. Babies have space to move around freely, and they enjoy tummy time where they develop their core strength ready for crawling and walking.
• Staff introduce mathematical concepts to children. They use positional language. For example, staff explain to children how they need to pull string through pasta tubes to make their caterpillar and show them how a train moves around a track. Children count in sequence and look at the size of objects, such as big and small. They explore quantities when they add water to dry sand so that they can build sandcastles.
• Staff provide a mixture of child- and adult-led learning. For instance, children use craft materials to make underpants like those in their 'Octopants' story. They engage in imaginative play when they act out real-life experiences using the play kitchen. However, during whole-group activities, staff do not always consider the different stages of development of children. This means that, at times, children who struggle to concentrate become fidgety and restless. Also, staff sometimes interrupt children's learning to complete care routines, such as nappy changing, making it harder for children to re-engage.
• Parents are highly appreciative of staff and their children's experience in the nursery. They say their children are excited to attend and staff are very supportive of parents. They are kept informed about their children's progress and ideas are shared with them to continue their children's learning at home.
• Leaders support staff in their continuing professional development, with several staff studying for higher qualifications. Staff attend training such as 'Cracking communication' and 'Blooming babies' to build on their knowledge and understanding. Staff feel their well-being is promoted well and morale is good.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• fully consider the organisation of group activities and the timing of care routines, such as nappy changing, to ensure all children benefit fully from purposeful, adult-led learning experiences, and their learning is not interrupted
• find out more about the different languages children hear and use at home to tailor support and build on children's language skills, to enhance their overall language development.