Kingsway Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children and parents warmly. Children are pleased to see each other and smile. Staff ask them where they would like to play. Children who are less confident to leave their parents are supported sensitively by staff. Staff support children to learn about the world around them. Children are keen to show carrots growing in the planter. Staff ask them about what carrots need to grow. Children think carefully about this before responding. They excitedly talk about the maize plant that they recognise as the same as on a recent farm trip. Staff remind children of the excitement they had finding their way through the maze together. A small group of children concentrate on building wooden blocks together. They discuss together how to angle the plank. Staff observe them and praise them when they roll balls down the plank.

Children have fun with staff. They learn to share and take turns. For example, they take turns to lay on rolls of paper to draw around each other. Children consider together the differences in size and the reasons why. Children very much enjoy making dough. They carefully measure cups of flour and water. This helps to develop their mathematical understanding. Staff introduce new vocabulary and talk to children about 'wet' and 'dry' ingredients. Children use their muscles to knead the dough. Staff discuss how the flour and water have changed when mixed. Children recall this happening when baking previously.

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

• The managers support a curriculum that is planned and sequenced. Staff offer home visits before children start attending to help them to plan for children's learning from the start. Staff talk with parents about children's play and what they like to do.
• Staff share books with children to support their understanding of routines. This helps children to prepare for their next transition. When children struggle to self-regulate, staff use a mirror and point to emotion images to promote discussion about how they are feeling.
• Children develop their physical skills. They enthusiastically lift tyres over the sides of a wooden truck onto the floor. This helps to develop their strength and large-muscle skills. Other children join in, and they help each other to move the tyres. Children enjoy pouring their drinks and chopping fruit. They are excited to brush their teeth after snack in the 'brush bus'. Staff give children clear and consistent messages around food and exercise.
• Some staff interactions with children are of a high quality and contribute well to delivering the curriculum intent. Children demonstrate this by listening intently to a story and are eager to find the animal in a bag. They know to take turns and wait for others. Staff use a rich vocabulary and repeat the words. However, at other times, staff's teaching does not engage all children. Staff do not consistently check children's understanding and, therefore, are not able to respond and adapt their teaching as necessary.
• Staff invite parents from other cultures into the nursery to cook different ethnic foods. Staff talk to parents who speak English as an additional language about their home languages. For example, they use familiar words from home to support children's understanding of care routines in the nursery. However, staff do not consistently provide children with more opportunities to develop and use their home languages in their play and learning.
• Staff read to children in an exciting way that engages them. Children then choose the same book and read the story to their friends. This encourages their love of reading.
• Staff work well in partnership with parents. Staff send resources home to further support children's learning, such as mark-making resources. This helps parents to support and extend their children's learning at home.
• The manager is supported well. There are plans in place to make further developments to the nursery, such as developing the outdoor area as staff recognise that many children do not have an outdoor space at home.
• The manager works effectively with other agencies and professionals. Staff use additional funding effectively to support staffing and provide resources. This ensures that the curriculum is ambitious for all children and meets their needs. This supports children with particular needs well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and helps them to make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor the quality of education more carefully and work with staff to extend their practice further
• provide more opportunities for children to develop and use their home languages in their play and learning.