Lancaster Lodge Childcare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children smile with excitement as they get ready to begin their day at this welcoming nursery. They begin to make independent choices in their play from a young age. For example, young babies confidently move between indoor and outdoor learning throughout the day. Staff have warm and responsive interactions with children. As a result of this, children feel safe and have built trusting relationships with staff.

Staff promote a love of literature in children, who enjoy listening to stories snuggled up to a member of staff. Children enjoy daily group activities with staff and form good friendships with each other, playing confidently and expressing their own ideas. For example, toddlers laugh and play cooperatively together in the water tray and take turns to use jugs to pour water down the pipes.

Children behave well. They demonstrate good awareness of how to keep themselves safe during play and use equipment appropriately. For example, older children show delight in using a small wooden hammer to dig into ice to reveal hidden animals. They show positive attitudes to learning and are supported by skilled staff to make progress. Children are highly inquisitive in their learning and maintain their focus to complete activities to their satisfaction.

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

• Children are provided with a wealth of experiences to broaden their knowledge of the world around them and allow them to contribute positively to society. For example, children enjoy looking at different occupations with staff and benefit from a visit by local paramedics and police officers to develop their understanding further.
• Children are well supported for their next transition in learning. Their well-being remains at the centre of this nursery and they are supported effectively through well-established key-person relationships. For example, the nursery provide older children with transition packs that contain images of their new school and teacher, to allow them to become familiar with their next stage of education.
• The manager has developed a curriculum that focuses on promoting children's independence and confidence. The curriculum is well sequenced throughout the nursery and older children become increasingly independent with self-help skills. For example, they confidently access water from the drinking station and fill up their own cups.
• Staff provide children with warm and responsive interactions. For example, young children squeal with delight as they try to pop bubbles while staff sing to them. However, on occasions, staff do not consistently give children enough time to respond to questions asked. This means that not all children are able to share their own thoughts or ideas or process what is being asked of them.
• Staff provide activities to promote all areas of learning for the children. Staff know the children well and use what they already know and can do to support their learning further. For example, young babies enjoy exploring coloured rice, using their fine motor skills to scoop with the spoons and pour into bowls, a skill which supports independent feeding at mealtimes. However, during daily routines, two-year-old children become disengaged from the learning activities provided and experience long periods of waiting during mealtimes.
• Managers and staff build strong relationships with families. Parents state that staff are passionate and caring and they feel safe leaving the children in their care, as they trust them completely.
• The manager values partnership working with other professionals. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported and benefit from an array of support from different professionals to ensure the best start to their early education.
• Staff took appropriate precautions to keep themselves and children safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Partnerships with parents since COVID-related restrictions were lifted have been strong. The manager and staff have worked hard to ensure that they work closely with parents and carers to support continuity of learning at home and identify any gaps in children's development. This ensures that all children were kept safe from harm and have made progress in their learning since returning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of daily routines to ensure that two-year-old children are consistently engaged in their learning
• develop staff's understanding about how to best support communication and language development, to allow children time to respond to questions and share their ideas.