Little Acorns Children's Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle easily and quickly. They form close friendships with other children, and they learn to share while playing together. Children curiously explore and play with a wide range of resources. For example, toddlers enjoy using little cups and spoons to make tea in the home corner. Older children take turns to look inside the mouth of a large dinosaur and tell each other what they can see in its belly. Children show great enthusiasm while exploring with paint. For instance, they proudly show staff the similarity of their painting to the artwork in the book. Children have access to plenty of opportunities to handle and use different resources, in order to develop their coordination and muscles in their hands. For example, toddlers use their hands to squeeze the dough; they use a rolling pin to make it flat and then use a cutter to make a pattern.

Children develop their independence, and they learn to do simple tasks on their own, such as putting on their coat and washing their hands. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They set clear boundaries for them to learn right from wrong. Staff provide timers for children to manage their turn taking and lead their play.

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

• Staff observe and assess children's learning and development effectively. They use this information to plan the next stages in their learning. This helps children make good progress with their development in relation to their starting points. For example, children who speak English as an additional language learn to express their needs and interests well.
• Staff support children to develop their communication and language skills effectively. For example, during their play, they interact with them and ask questions to help develop their listening, thinking and speaking skills.
• Staff make good use of books to support children's learning and literacy skills. Children show great interests in stories; they keenly look at the images and talk about what they see in the books. In addition, there are opportunities for children to practise making marks and adding meaning to their work.
• Staff set up the indoor and outdoor play areas with resources for children to learn about nature and living things effectively. They plan activities for them to learn about the similarities and differences of people in the community.
• Staff support children to learn about emotions and encourage them to be friendly with other children. Resources to encourage physical play, such as bicycles and climbing frames, and to develop children's physical skills are provided. Staff promote good hygiene by ensuring that children wash their hands before meals.
• Staff use activities for children to learn to keep their teeth clean and learn about healthy lifestyles. However, sometimes, less-confident children can become overwhelmed, and staff are sometimes a little unsure of exploring a range of strategies to support individual children to make healthy choices at mealtimes.
• Staff allow children to play curiously and freely with resources that interests them, in order to support their learning. For example, older children use their imagination to bake cupcakes while exploring with different items in the mud kitchen. Children display good behaviour, such as being kind and sharing their cupcakes with others.
• Children's language and communication skills are well supported. However, during large-group and adult-led activities, staff do not give all children enough time to think and respond to questions. This would help build on quieter children's confidence.
• The manager considers feedback from children, parents, staff and the local authority early years improvement officer when evaluating the provision. She addresses any actions as they arise, in order to continually maintain good working practices.
• The manager completes regular staff supervision meetings, and she provides development opportunities to keep their knowledge and skills current. Staff use what they have learned from their training and qualifications to provide good-quality teaching and care to children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine the mealtime arrangements to fully support children to understand how to make healthy choices
• support staff during group times, to allow quieter children time to consider and respond to questions, helping to develop their communication and language skills further.