Kindred Parsonage

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive on staff's attentive support and grow in confidence. The nursery's 'respectful care approach' is part of their curriculum for supporting all aspects of children's needs. Staff offer patient, sensitive reassurance, caring cuddles and plenty of attention to new children as they come for their first sessions. Returning children show strong bonds with staff and are pleased to see them after their break over the summer. Staff promote children's good health. Children enjoy nutritious fruit snacks and appetising hot meals with healthy water to drink. Mealtimes are social occasions, with staff and children happily chatting together and children enjoying their food. Older children relish being able to freely flow between the indoor and outdoor areas, enjoying the opportunity to follow their interests and be active in the garden. Management is adding new music and movement sessions for both age groups to develop children's fitness and physical strength and inspire children's healthy lifestyles further.

Staff observe children carefully during 'focus weeks' and assess children's development. Key persons get to know children well, outlining children's next steps in their learning and take note of their interests. They then conscientiously support children, helping effectively to close gaps in children's learning and build their skills. Children develop their language skills effectively. Staff model new words clearly to toddlers and repeat the correct pronunciation of phrases back to them. Slightly older children enjoy painting with water on the wall outside, and staff take the opportunity to commentate and label their movements. Children pick up on this, repeating up and down and then high and low as they do the corresponding movements. They then challenge themselves to see how high they can go. They show positive attitudes to learning and developing their skills.

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

• Management and staff support partnership working. They link with parents, sharing information on children's time at the nursery, and help them work together on the next steps in children's learning. Staff share information to ensure children's needs are known and they receive consistent support as they move between rooms within the nursery and on to other settings and school. They also liaise with outside professionals to get children any additional help they need. All children make good progress. Those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children in receipt of additional funding are closely helped to reach their potential.
• Behaviour support is very strong, staff offer children clear, patient, age-appropriate explanations and timely tips and reminders to help them learn how to interact with each other. Children develop their social skills well. Staff in both age groups offer times for children to come together. Children enjoy songs and learn to appreciate others' views. Older children spontaneously work together in activities, for example they hold a large bottle and the funnel in the top as the other pours in coloured water during an activity.
• Children's creativity is inspired in interesting activities. Staff sensitively support children to explore at their own pace and follow their ideas. Toddlers excitedly investigate painting with flowers, watching staff's timely modelling. Staff skilfully use their knowledge of children to build their confidence, linking to children's interests to offer them the chance to drip the paint from the bottle, which fascinates children. Older children relish creating colourful potions and carefully snip real herbs with scissors to add to them. However, staff do not always thoroughly plan the resources needed and adjust their support in some activities to ensure children's full engagement, attention and learning.
• Children develop useful skills in readiness for their move on to school. Staff deftly encourage them to do things for themselves. Children carefully pour their own drinks, and older children serve their food and clear away their things afterwards. They learn good hygiene practices and a sense of responsibility with staff's clear explanations. However, at times, staff do not encourage children to persevere with challenges and solve problems, such as open bottle tops themselves or work out which utensils work best to fill buckets of sand more effectively.
• Management receives support and training from area management and the wider Kindred support team. This helps them reflect on practice and maintain a positive approach to continuous improvement. Training days help new and existing staff refresh their knowledge and develop their skills. Clear audits and evaluations are undertaken and enhancements outlined and implemented. The nursery has refurbished outdoor areas over the summer and increased their practice, introducing new enriching group experiences, such as fun French sessions and additional music activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• thoroughly plan for and consistently support children in activities, extending their engagement, attention and learning further
• encourage children to persevere with challenges and solve problems that they encounter, building their skills to higher levels.