Kindred Wanstead

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children at this setting have warm and secure relationships with staff. Children and families receive a welcoming greeting by friendly staff at the entrance door. Staff demonstrate a genuine interest in children and their families. This helps children to feel a sense of belonging and supports their personal development.

The managers and staff have ambitious plans, structures and routines in place to support children's learning. The special educational needs coordinator works effectively in partnership with outside agencies and parents to ensure that all children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. In addition, the key-person system supports children's continuity of care. This has a positive impact on the quality of education that all children receive.

Older children confidently speak to the inspector, explaining 'we like to play with our friends, playing racing cars'. Staff kindly help children to understand how and why it is good to share toys with their friends. This approach has a positive impact on how children respect and treat one another. Children share resources and take turns in their play. They behave well and staff set clear expectations.

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

• Children develop their physical skills. For example, staff supervise young children to carefully walk from their room upstairs to the outdoor area downstairs. In addition, toddlers paint in a large space in the outdoor area. Babies beat drums as they take part in a nursery rhyme activity. These opportunities have a positive impact on children's developing bodies, particularly their large muscles.
• Staff have a good understanding of how to ensure that children of all ages and stages develop their independence skills. They plan the environment well to help children to do things for themselves. For example, during an activity with flour, when ginger and cinnamon fall on the ground, toddlers take a child-sized broom to sweep up.
• Staff encourage children to develop a love of reading. Children sit in small groups with staff and listen with interest to stories. Staff skilfully point out the main characters and explain the story. This has a positive impact on young children's developing listening and speaking skills.
• Children benefit from a range of activities that develop their communication skills. For example, staff and children have a conversation about why some construction workers wear earmuffs on building sites. However, on occasions, staff answer their own questions and do not allow children enough time to think, respond, make mistakes and solve problems for themselves. This means that children do not always have time to develop their thinking skills.
• Staff gather information before children start and use this to plan for their learning. However, the managers have not put in place strategies to help staff to fully understand the importance of children being able to use their home languages. Staff do not consistently include important words in children's home languages into their practice and do not always explain the benefits of this to parents. This does not help all children to value their home languages.
• Staff organise the environment so that all children can join in with activities to support their early mathematical development. For example, outdoors, children join in with number songs, such as 'One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive' as staff organise a water activity with fishing nets and marine-life role play. Indoors, staff use children's interests to help them to practise and embed other mathematical concepts, such as matching numbers to quantities.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents feel that staff are approachable, friendly and professional. They value the support and information that they receive from the managers and their children's key persons. This helps to support children's next steps in learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• allow children more time to reflect and respond so that they build on their thinking and problem-solving skills
• build staff's understanding of the importance of using children's home languages and extend their confidence in explaining this to parents.