Kindred Harlow

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy, confident, and eager to learn at this welcoming nursery. The provider works with families to gain an understanding of the children in their care. They use this information to help children settle, meet their individual needs, and form good bonds with staff. Younger children show that they feel secure as they approach familiar staff for cuddles and reassurance, when needed. Older children seek out their key person to share their experiences or ask for support. This helps children to have a sense of belonging at the nursery. Staff plan a wide range of activities and experiences that capture children's interests. For example, staff join in with younger children's imaginative play, pretending to prepare the dinner. Older children persevere at using small tongs to pick up the pretend worms from the mud tray. Older children develop the small muscles in their hands as they use scissors to cut herbs and staff help them to identify each plant. Staff encourage children to be independent from an early age. Children select the resources that they would like to play with and develop their own ideas about how to use them.

The staff team are calm, speak respectfully to the children and, in general, are good role models. Children are beginning to understand the expectations of the nursery and overall, their behaviour is good.

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

• The nursery benefits from a strong leadership team. The provider has good oversight of the quality of the nursery and targets areas for improvement. Leaders support staff to undertake their roles and to improve their knowledge and skills.
• The provider has developed a curriculum that gives focus to children's individual interests. They observe children's play and identify their next steps in learning. This helps them to provide activities that children enjoy and helps them progress.
• The staff team take care to set up activities that spark children's interest. For example, children enjoy scooping and mixing cereal to make 'Gruffalo crumble'. However, the staff team are not always clear what they want children to learn. This means, on occasion, teaching does not deliver staff's intended learning. Consequently, children's engagement is not sustained to build on their learning.
• All children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make timely progress from their starting points. The provider identifies children who may need extra support. The staff team work with parents and external agencies to ensure the best outcomes for all children. Families of children with SEND feel extremely well-supported by the provider. The provider ensures that children with SEND receive the highest level of support.
• The staff team support children's communication and language well. They offer ongoing description and conversation during play, and this helps children hear and learn new language. As children explore the play dough, staff introduce unfamiliar words to describe the texture. The staff team sit with children, look at books and read to them in a way that captures their interest. However, at times, the staff team do not use the correct pronunciation of words when interacting with children. Furthermore, staff sing over the top of children as they play, and unable to hear the them. This does not help them to learn to say words correctly as they develop their vocabulary.
• Children enjoy healthy meals and snacks that meet their individual dietary needs and preferences. Mealtimes are a social occasion, and children enjoy chatting to staff and each other. Staff provide support for children as needed.
• Children behave well. However, the staff team are not always consistent in how they manage children's behaviour. They do not make their expectations clear to children or explain to them the behaviour they should be using. For example, staff ask young children to share. However, they have not yet learned this concept. Staff remind other children of the golden rules. This causes confusion for children because they are not sure of the expectations to help them learn to manage their own behaviour.
• Parents feel involved and well informed about their children's learning. Parents receive regular communication regarding their children's learning and development, including resources for parents to build on their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement the precise learning intentions of activities more effectively, so that children remain fully engaged and learning intentions are met
• support staff to develop their understanding of how to support language development for children
• improve staff's understanding of behaviour management strategies so that they have a consistent approach to support children's understanding of positive behaviour.