Kids' Zone

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The setting provides a wonderfully well-equipped, child-friendly space for children to play, learn and socialise while on holiday. As children arrive to start their session, they are welcomed with warm smiles and focused attention. Children quickly form secure attachments with staff as they cuddle up to them, involve them in their play and demonstrate that they feel safe in their care.

Staff are strong role models in supporting children's behaviour and attitudes. Staff listen carefully to what the children say by giving them their full attention. They teach children how to positively respond to the needs of others. For instance, children are encouraged to make room in the tepee by 'squeezing up'. They are praised for being kind and sharing resources, which encourages them to repeat this behaviour in other situations. Children chat excitedly to each other as they experiment with torches, curiously exploring the wood knots and shapes of marks in the wood. Consequently, children develop key social skills and quickly form friendships as they joyfully play together.

Children benefit from a variety of well-planned activities that encourage them to be active, gain new knowledge and develop their social skills. For instance, children who attended the evening forest school session excitedly talk about the dens and shelters they built using logs and sticks for the animals living around the hotel. Others eagerly share how they used a tape measure with numbers to measure a stick they found, exclaiming that 'It was super long,' and how they used binoculars to see the lake and the mountains. Many children ask their parents to let them return, expressing the desire to play more. This enthusiasm demonstrates how happy and settled the children feel in this exciting and welcoming environment

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

• Parents praise the caring staff and child-friendly environment, noting their children's excitement about activities. They value the helpful feedback for extending learning at home.
• This is a well-organised setting where dedicated staff work passionately together to deliver high-quality, ambitious learning experiences for children. Professional development is carefully targeted to ensure that the entire team benefits from continuous opportunities to enhance their expertise. This leads to enriched learning opportunities for children, where they learn and thrive.
• Staff offer children various opportunities to develop their speaking, listening and communication skills. They set up play spaces designed to promote literacy, where children can interact with stories and rhymes and practise vocabulary through conversation. This approach allows children to participate in dialogue that supports development across areas of the curriculum.
• Staff effectively use everyday moments to support children's emotional development. For example, during plastic construction block play, children share fears about wasps and staff help them discuss these feelings and coping strategies. These carefully targeted conversations expand children's emotional vocabulary constructively.
• Staff quickly identify children's interests and skills through play, such as building a plane to go on an imaginary holiday. Staff use these opportunities to guide learning, encouraging children to discuss materials and collaboratively problem-solve. As children join in, they adapt ideas, adding seats, wings and even troubleshooting with parachutes and making a battery charger to make the plane go. Staff promote teamwork and negotiation, which contributes to the strong progress children make.
• Children enjoy positive experiences at the setting. Staff create an engaging curriculum based on parents' input from the online booking form, focusing on children's interests and care needs. They assess children's development using their expertise but do not actively gather detailed information about children's prior skills and knowledge before entry. As a result, staff do not have strong enough information to plan more targeted, challenging learning that builds on children's existing knowledge and enables optimal progress.
• Staff provide effective support for children to develop their understanding of nature and the natural world. They skilfully integrate broader learning concepts into activities. For example, when children dig up potatoes, staff prompt them to use mathematical terms such as 'small', 'large' and 'gigantic' to compare different weights. When children encounter a worm, they discuss its length and find a 'smaller' one to compare. Consequently, children make good progress across all areas of learning through a comprehensive and balanced educational approach.
• Leadership and management is highly effective. Staff report that they feel valued and supported and that their well-being is prioritised. This strong collaborative approach has created inclusive, nurturing environments where every child's needs are carefully listened to and met.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to encourage parents' involvement in sharing information about what children know and can do before they attend to enhance their learning from the outset.