Little Angels Day Care

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive and are warmly greeted by friendly staff. They form close bonds with staff members, who are kind, caring and nurturing. This helps them to feel safe and secure in this stimulating home-from-home environment. Children are confident to explore the abundance of activities on offer. They become captivated as they examine the ice in the garden. Children use small hammers to chip away at the ice. They tell staff it looks like 'diamonds' as it breaks into small pieces and share their thoughts and ideas about where ice comes from. They recognise that their warm hands make the ice melt. Older children tell staff that when the ice melts it turns into water. Children learn new words, such as 'crunchy' and 'frosty', as they play.

Children are confident and motivated to learn. They become independent through repetition during daily routines. As a result, children know to put their coats on before going outside and to wash their hands before mealtimes. Children show delight as they make reindeer biscuits. They recall the recipe and tell staff what ingredients to use, such as flour, butter and ginger. They confidently tell staff the biscuits need to go in the oven to cook.

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

• Staff create an ambitious curriculum that follows children's interests and builds on what they already know and can do. Children experience a wealth of opportunities that enhance their learning. They use a range of one-handed tools to make marks in the sand. Children pour water into different sized containers as they play in the water tray. They explore which objects float and sink and learn new words, such as 'empty' and 'full'.
• Children benefit from a language-rich environment. All children, including children who speak English as an additional language, are well supported. Staff narrate children's play and continuously chat to them. They introduce new words such as 'smooth', 'yuck' and 'slimy'. Staff skilfully repeat words back to children and allow them time to copy and build on their growing vocabulary.
• Staff offer a range of activities for children to engage in. Older children interact with musical instruments and experiment with making the sounds loud or quiet and fast or slow. Toddlers enjoy messy play. They scoop up the 'gloop' mixture with their hands and show awe and wonder as they watch it melt between their fingers. However, staff are not always consistent in creating opportunities to further enhance toddlers' learning.
• Staff read stories with enthusiasm and a sense of wonder. As staff read a story about a Christmas tree, children share their thoughts and ideas about what decorations they will put on their tree. Children call out 'fairy lights' and 'baubles'. Babies look at books independently, lifting the flaps to see the pictures underneath. Older children snuggle up together and retell stories they know well. Children choose a book from the lending library to take home and share with their family. Staff are fostering a love of stories.
• Children behave well. They take turns and share. Children are polite and say 'please' and 'thank you' when interacting with others. They show they are caring and kind as they look after the setting's pet guinea pig, who is called Domino. Children are gentle as they hold and stroke him. They give him water, food and straw for his bedding.
• Staff enthusiastically use opportunities and activities to increase children's understanding of mathematical development. They weave this throughout all aspects of learning. Staff challenge children to weigh out 'more' or 'less' flour on the weighing scales during a cooking activity. As a result of this, children are learning about mathematical concepts such as weight and measure, number recognition and counting.
• The management team leads the setting with a strong sense of direction. This motivates staff to continually improve their knowledge and skills. The management team values staff as the most important asset of the setting. Staff state that they feel respected and valued.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents speak extremely highly of the management team and staff. Staff keep parents updated on their children's development and next steps. Parents describe the setting and staff as 'amazing'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consistently create opportunities that further enhance toddlers' learning and development.