Kindred Girton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy and confident in this warm and nurturing setting. Babies form secure attachments, which supports their emotional development and a love of learning. Young children learn through meaningful sensory experiences, and older children experiment with leaves in the garden, seeing how far they can blow in the wind. From an early age, children confidently express their feelings and self-esteem. Children give praise to one another while making diva lamps with mouldable dough for Diwali. Babies join in with singing and puppets and cheerfully clap when they have finished.

Older and younger children have opportunities to play together in the outdoor areas. This has a positive impact on children's early social development and supports smooth transitions to the next stages of their learning. Children are kind to one another and understand what is expected of them. Staff consistently model kind behaviours and speak to children about how they are feeling. This supports children who struggle to regulate their behaviour. Children are motivated to learn and staff support children through play, taking their lead. For example, children in the pre-school room vote on what to call their new pumpkin that they have.

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

• Staff know their children extremely well. They add new language to play experiences, and children find joy in repeating new words. For example, staff discuss 'scooping and chopping' potatoes with younger children as they cut potatoes with pretend saws. Although there are good opportunities for children to learn new language, at times children are not given the opportunity to think about their responses to questions.
• Children are taught about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Older children discuss brushing their teeth after a staff member has visited the dentist. Younger children have opportunities to move their muscles in ball pools and pull themselves up on low-level furniture. All children can move freely into the outdoor area at any time of the day. They play with hoops and are praised as they are taught to roll and push and match the action to the word. Older children hold big branches and measure them against each other, discussing which one is the tallest.
• A new manager has recently been appointed. There is a strong and committed leadership team in place. Together, they evaluate practice and identify clear ideas about where the nursery is now and how they are going to continue building on the good-quality, inclusive education. They use training methods, such as regular monitoring of staff practice and positive role modelling, to embed good-quality care.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is very good. The nursery's special educational needs coordinator works closely with the manager and very competently with parents and other early years professionals. Children with delayed speech and language, including those who speak English as an additional language, benefit from effective targeted interventions delivered by trained staff. This helps to ensure that gaps in learning are identified, and all children make good progress.
• Staff form very positive partnerships with parents. They create opportunities for parents to support their children with learning at home. For example, parents borrow books from the 'lending library' to read at home with their children, meet with staff at 'family fun days' and are kept informed about their children's progress via an online app. Parents praise the staff and state that they are 'extremely dedicated, hardworking and enthusiastic'.
• Children are taught about managing risks and keeping themselves safe. Children know not to use the trim trail when it is slippery from the rain. They talk with adults about using 'loud voices' to indicate when something may be dangerous as they carry large sticks around the growing area. Children have access to lots of resources at low level, which allows them to be curious and lead their play. However, there are times when staff do not make the most of opportunities to develop children's independence. For example, younger children have aprons put on for them and do not have opportunities to wipe their own noses.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• allow children more time to think about their responses to questions, to help increase and challenge their learning even more
• create more opportunities for children to learn skills to develop their independence.