Kingfisher Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled and develop secure bonds with the kind and caring staff. Prior to starting, staff visit children in their own homes and invite them into the setting for prestart visits. This helps staff to find out about children's interests and care needs, and begin to develop relationships with them. Children demonstrate that they feel safe by moving independently around the setting and choosing what they want to play with.

Children have a positive attitude to learning and make good progress from their starting points. They benefit from staff's high expectations for what they can achieve. Assessment strategies are used well to track children's development and identify gaps in their learning. Leaders and staff work closely with families to help support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They make timely referrals to other agencies to ensure that children get the support they need.

Children behave well and have fun as they learn. Staff provide them with a good range of opportunities to take appropriate risks and provide them with challenges during their play. For example, as children ride balance bikes over a ramp, staff encourage them to explore ways of doing this safely. Children demonstrate high levels of resilience and use their critical thinking skills as they explore different ways of doing this. After a number of attempts, children conclude that they need to lean backwards when going up, and forwards when going down.

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

• Leaders and staff communicate well with children. They use simple words and sentences to help build on children's understanding. Staff use repetition and say words clearly to help children to hear the correct pronunciation. All children, including those who have limited language, are rapidly building on the number of words they speak.
• Staff provide a broad range of fun activities that are devised to match children's current interests and experiences from home. Children are keen to explore, investigate and find out new things. However, leaders and staff are not always confident in how they can put the curriculum intent into action through their teaching. As a result, the aims for some activities are very broad. This means that teaching is not always precisely focused on what individual children need to learn next.
• Staff set clear expectations for children's behaviour and conduct, and these are commonly known and reinforced. For example, children are reminded to be kind and caring, to value others' views and opinions and use walking feet while indoors. Staff act as good role models and use positive strategies to guide children's behaviour. For example, when children need to take turns using some resources, they suggest they use sand timers to indicate that it will be their turn next. Children play harmoniously with their peers. They are happy to share and take turns, and they show high levels of respect and tolerance for others.
• Staff provide a range of experiences to promote children to understand their feelings. For example, they use stories and pictures to help children recognise a range of emotions. Most children are confident and show high levels of emotional well-being. However, sometimes, staff do not always recognise when quieter and less confident children need support to join in with some activities. Therefore, at times, these children do not fully benefit from the learning experiences, particularly during large-group activities.
• Staff place a good focus on helping children to develop an awareness of the importance of leading active and healthy lifestyles. Staff teach children about healthy eating and the importance of good oral hygiene. They provide children with healthy snacks, and parents are supported to understand what makes a healthy lunch box.
• The dedicated leaders and experienced staff work well as a team. They meet each morning to discuss children's needs and plan for the day. They are reflective and committed to providing high-quality care and education. Leaders regularly conduct staff supervisions, offering good support for staff's well-being. This contributes to high levels of staff morale and a positive staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to have a clear understanding of the curriculum intent so that their teaching is consistently focused on what they want children to learn
• strengthen the consistency of staff interactions to ensure that all children, particularly those less confident, engage fully in all activities.