Kirkgate Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are cared for by passionate and dedicated staff in this inclusive nursery. Staff know children extremely well. They skilfully adapt their interactions and routines to ensure those children who need extra support receive one-to-one attention. This contributes significantly to help children form strong attachments with staff. Children learn to regulate their emotions and concentrate for long periods. For example, they listen attentively to staff as they learn about bees and pollen during a group-time activity. Children's enthusiasm for learning is infectious.

Staff work together to plan an ambitious and flexible curriculum that incorporates the needs of every child. They ensure that children have daily access to a very well-planned outdoor environment, regardless of the weather. Children eagerly engage in a wonderful array of focused and meaningful activities, which develops their understanding of the world outdoors. For example, as children play in water, staff explain the importance of recycling. Staff support children to use nets to separate sea creatures from plastic. Children delight in searching for minibeasts. They put them into their 'minibeast house' that they have created. Children learn about growth as they help to grow tomatoes and herbs.

Staff are exceptional role models. Their highly effective support helps children to understand how to show respect for others. Children use impeccable manners, and their behaviour is exemplary. Staff provide outstanding support to help children explore and manage their own feelings and emotions. Throughout the day, staff encourage children to think about, and express, how they are feeling.

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

• Support for children's communication and language is exemplary. Staff engage in high-quality interactions. They narrate activities and introduce new vocabulary, such as 'symmetrical' as children design and create butterflies using craft materials. Staff seize opportunities during routines to model words and to introduce children to vocabulary in different contexts, such as explaining to children that they are sitting 'opposite' their friend. Staff use sign language to help support children's understanding. These techniques support children to become articulate and confident communicators.
• Staff know children and their families extremely well. They use highly effective methods to gather and share information about children's development. Staff visit children and their families in their homes before they start at the nursery. They signpost parents to outside agencies for support and share resources and ideas to encourage them to continue their child's learning at home.
• Staff create an inclusive environment where all children are confident, independent learners. Their understanding of the importance of partnership working is exemplary. Staff work very closely with a range of professionals and share relevant information. They attend and hold meetings and help implement strategies that support children's progress. This helps to create a consistent approach to supporting children's learning.
• Staff provide excellent support for children to become increasingly independent. For example, they teach children how to safely chop their fruit at snack time. Children get more fruit from the refrigerator when this is needed. Daily access to play apparatus allows children time to engage in activities that strengthen their climbing and balancing abilities. This also makes a significant contribution to their mental health and well-being.
• Staff encourage children to act and think independently. For example, they encourage children to choose a story for the session. Children make choices and discuss their decisions. This helps to teach children about fairness and democracy. Staff deploy themselves very effectively to support children. They understand where and when to support children's learning.
• Partnerships with parents are outstanding. Parents appreciate how strong the communication is and how genuinely invested staff are in each and every child. They feel that staff have a genuine passion and that their children make exceptional progress.
• Leaders demonstrate a tenacious passion for delivering exceptional care and education to children. Their commitment to excellence is reflected in the outstanding progress that children make. Funding is used to help to significantly improve children's progress in their learning and development and to narrow gaps in achievement. For example, staff attend training sessions to help them to tailor their skills to children's needs.
• Staff provide children with a wide range of enriching experiences that enable children's understanding of the community around them to flourish. For instance, they visit the local care home, where they sing with residents who have dementia. Children visit the local library, where staff strongly focus learning on children's communication and language and literacy skills.
• Staff skilfully support children's mathematical development. Children use a ruler to measure items, such as the size of towers that they build. They discuss numbers and shapes and regularly count, for example, the legs of minibeasts. Staff praise children for their good mathematical skills. This promotes their eagerness to keep learning.