Kids World Wombwell

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and managers have identified a clear curriculum that helps children to develop a core range of skills over time. For example, staff support babies to use their senses and fine motor skills as they explore paint using their hands, brushes and pipe cleaners. Staff encourage older children to use cut out tubes and spaghetti to print with. They develop their fine motor skills and imagination as they create firework pictures. Staff ask questions to encourage children to verbalise what they are doing and to share their own experiences. In the baby room, staff repeat lots of simple words, linking them to objects or movements. This supports their growing communication skills. Staff introduce short story-time sessions to promote babies interest in books and their listening skills.

Children are warmly greeted on arrival, which helps them to quickly settle. The kind, supportive staff team provides children with comfort and reassurance as needed to meet their needs. Staff act as positive role models as they help children to learn to behave well. Parents and children access books and games to take home from the nursery lending library. This creates positive links with home and supports children's ongoing development. Management has also set up a coat swap. This enables parents to exchange coats, which their children have outgrown, for a bigger size. This positively impacts on children's welfare.

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

• Leaders and managers actively support the well-being of staff by encouraging and sharing positive feedback. Improved organisation and deployment of staff at lunchtime, results in children being fully supervised while eating. Staff now spend time sitting with children, which enables them to encourage positive interactions, social skills and discussions.
• During some large group-time activities with older children, staff have not considered the individual abilities of all children participating. This results in younger children not consistently being as well supported in their learning at these times. For example, older children benefit from the in-depth discussions about emotions as they consider and answer questions about these. However, it is only when a simple story is read about emotions, that younger children take more notice and engage.
• Staff value outdoor play experiences to not only promote children's physical skills but their skills in other areas of learning too. For example, as children roll balls down the guttering, staff introduce simple counting. They encourage children to learn how to take turns and play cooperatively when digging in the sand.
• When children choose not to participate in routine and planned experiences, staff do not consistently provide alternative quality play opportunities. This results in children missing out on the valuable learning being provided at this time.
• Staff sit with babies as they engage in water play. They use simple words with actions, such as 'fill', 'empty' and 'pour', to promote children's vocabulary. Children who are reluctant to get wet are gently coaxed by staff until they develop confidence to use some of the resources in the water.
• Supervision and performance management reviews of staff are in place. However, they are not always robustly implemented. For example, staff explain that peer reviews are undertaken as and when they have time. This results in some minor inconsistencies in staff teaching not being promptly identified and rectified.
• Staff continually review children's progress, enabling them to promptly identify possible delays in their development. Staff work closely with other agencies and professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Targeted support plans are in place for children with SEND, enabling staff to support their ongoing development. Management is in the process of enhancing these plans to fully ensure that interventions remain focused and effective.
• Management carefully considers how best to spend any additional funding they receive for disadvantaged children. They monitor and review the impact this has on children's learning to ensure that it helps to improve outcomes for children.
• Staff work hard to ensure that children develop confidence in their surroundings. This helps children feel settled and secure. Baby room staff make effective use of routines to develop children's early communication skills. For example, when changing nappies, they sing familiar rhymes to the babies. Staff help older children to learn to behave well. They encourage the use of 'kind hands' to support children's cooperative play.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider children's full range of abilities when planning large group-time activities
• clarify how staff will plan alternative quality experiences for those children who choose not to participate during planned routine activities
• improve the critical evaluation of staff practice so that inconsistencies in staff's knowledge and skills are more promptly identified and targeted for improvement.