Kidzstop Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this friendly nursery. They are welcomed by enthusiastic staff who value what they have to say. Staff respond as babies use simple signs and gestures to communicate. They play peepo with babies and offer lots of cuddles. This supports children to develop strong bonds with staff. Staff support children to share and play together collaboratively. They have embedded consistent routines that children follow eagerly. Staff use a range of strategies to support children's understanding of changes in routines, such as the use of a bell and visual aids. At tidy up time, children eagerly work together to tidy away the toys. Staff then offer reassurance as to what will happen next. This helps children to feel safe and secure and to understand the expectations.

Leaders and staff have devised a clear curriculum. They know the needs of the community and the families and place a strong focus on providing children with a set of experiences that build on what they have experienced at home. Staff use children's interests well to help children build positive attitudes to learning. Children express themselves as they play instruments together. Lots of giggling can be heard as staff encourage them to play the instruments slow then fast. Children are eager learners who make good progress in their development.

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

• Leaders have taken action to address the weaknesses raised at their last inspection. They have implemented thorough vetting procedures to ensure only staff whose suitability has been checked have unsupervised contact with children. Leaders support staff through coaching and training. This has impacted positively on the quality of the provision.
• Leaders gather information to monitor and evaluate the setting. However, they do not always use this effectively to target areas for improvement. This results in some minor inconsistencies in practice. For example, at mealtimes some staff focus on tasks rather than using this time as an opportunity to interact and promote children's social skills as leaders intend.
• Staff have clear next steps in learning for each child. They use observations and assessments to identify potential gaps in children's development and make appropriate referrals for specialist advice. Staff embrace the expertise of other agencies involved with children's learning, such as speech and language therapists to support them in developing individual plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). All children, including children with SEND make good progress from their starting points.
• Children's communication and language is a key focus of the nursery. Staff support this as they model clear language and promote a love of books and songs. Babies explore textured books and as they turn the pages, staff name the items they can see. Babies dance along and join in with some actions from songs they know. Older children ask for their favourite songs and join in with the words and actions as they hop like 'little bunnies'. Children have fun and develop their language skills as they take part in these experiences.
• Staff plan environments that encourage children to be physically active. Babies develop their physical skills to aid their progress towards walking. They confidently climb up age-appropriate slides and delight as they slide down independently. Children make good progress in their physical skills. Older children show great confidence in their physical skills as they stretch and jump, showing their friends their 'superhero moves'.
• Staff use children's interests well to plan exciting activities that they eagerly access. For example, children excitedly transfer coloured pasta into containers with tweezers. They use good hand-eye coordination and recall the colours they know. However, staff do not respond and adapt to meet the learning needs of all children. As children want to explore the activities in different ways staff do not adapt and allow time for this. This does not support all children to sustain their interest and concentration so that they remain engaged in meaningful learning.
• Staff build strong partnerships with parents who speak positively about the nursery and the support they receive as a family. Parents state that they have seen lots of progress with their children's communication skills since they have started attending. Parents value the effective two-way flow of information about their children's care and development. This supports them to further extend learning at home.
• Staff provide opportunities to support children's early mathematical understanding. For example, as children draw pictures, staff encourage them to recognise the patterns they can see. As children fill and empty containers, staff introduce language such as full and empty. Older children demonstrate confidence in their mathematical knowledge as they identify different shapes and count up to 10 in their play.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen systems for using evaluations and monitoring of the provision to bring about positive change and improvements
• support staff to adapt activities to meet all children's learning needs and help them to remain engaged.