Lavender Hall Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are extremely passionate about the children and put them at the centre of everything they do. A carefully planned curriculum, that aims to provide all children with a strong foundation for lifelong learning, is deeply embedded across the whole setting. As a result, staff use high-quality teaching methods and interactions with children to provide children with a rich and broad set of experiences, which supports all children to make excellent progress.

Staff have high expectations and aspirations for the children and have clear boundaries and behavioural expectations in place. As a result, children behave impeccably.

Children demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities. They are extremely curious and inquisitive. Children are able to make choices about what they would like to do and select resources to enhance their own play and learning. For example, in the outdoor nature area, children work together to make potions, using different-sized containers to tip and pour different liquids to fill up bottles. Staff provide children with opportunities to develop their critical thinking skills, allowing them opportunity to problem-solve, predict what might happen and take risks. Children are proud of their achievements and demonstrate delight in showing their peers what they have created.

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

• Children's voices are highly valued, respected and listened to in the setting. Children are effective communicators who are confident to express their views, feelings, wishes and interests. Children's home languages are celebrated. Children smile in delight as staff say key words in their home language. Parents praise the staff for going above and beyond to create an inclusive environment that supports children's individual cultures and backgrounds.
• A language-rich environment in the setting supports all children to acquire and use language. Staff teach children to develop a love of reading. They regularly read stories to children, and children demonstrate that they enjoy this time with the staff. They listen intently to the words of the story and answer and ask appropriate questions about the storyline and pictures in the book. Children are able to articulate their own views. For example, they are able to talk about the emotions of the character in the story and how they could make the sad character feel happier.
• Staff demonstrate excellent knowledge about child development and their individual key children. They are able to talk at length about children's strengths and any concerns they have with regard to their learning and development. They confidently describe how they provide children with opportunities to build upon what they know and can do, to support all children to make fantastic progress. Staff have high aspirations for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Individualised support is carefully planned and implemented to ensure children that may need additional support are provided with what they need to reach their full potential.
• Children demonstrate they feel safe, content and happy in the setting. They are reassured and soothed by highly responsive staff who use knowledge of individual children to find ways to distract them if they become upset. Younger children seek out comfort from staff when they feel unsure, and older children demonstrate they feel confident to ask for help to complete tasks when required.
• Leaders work with the staff to create a nurturing environment for everyone in the setting. They prioritise the well-being of their staff and ensure that highly effective and meaningful engagement takes place. When issues are identified, they are consistently dealt with appropriately and quickly. As a result, all staff praise the support they receive from the leadership team.
• Parents speak extremely highly of the setting. They praise the staff team, who are passionate about their roles, for providing children with a rich set of experiences and a strong foundation in their learning. They explain that the setting communicates effectively in a variety of ways, and they feel involved in their child's learning. They talk about how they are provided with activity ideas to extend their child's learning at home. Parents of older children explain that their children are eager to tell them about what they have learned during their time in the setting, which they feel demonstrates deep levels of concentration in activities provided to enable children to recite what they have been taught.