Little Blossoms Harmanswater

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have a strong sense of belonging in the setting. They develop reassurance and confidence, such as through the relationships they gain with familiar staff. Staff effectively observe children's interactions and invite them into different play experiences. This helps to encourage children to try new activities for the first time. Children are eager to learn. They show intrigue and curiosity, wanting to know more. They openly question other children's play and help model learning for younger children. For example, staff encourage older children to use a book to identify insects and bugs in the garden. They enthusiastically invite younger children into the hunt and tell them each insect's name.

Children develop good levels of independence. For example, staff talk children through handwashing before snack and after toileting, helping them to manage the soap pump themselves. Children develop positive relationships with their friends and staff. Staff encourage children to share and join in group activities to support their understanding of cooperative play. Children learn to share their time with staff and exchange ideas as to how to extend their play. For example, children excitedly tell staff and their friends about the bugs that they have found.

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

• Staff engage and interact positively with all children. They understand children's interest and preferences in their play. They provide a wide range of play experiences, both inside and outside. They encourage children to transport resources to extend their learning. For example, children take their interest in pirate ships inside to create their own.
• Staff effectively adapt activities that children experience, according to their stages of development. They change the style of questioning to support children's thinking. However, staff do not always successfully use the information from parents to fully support individual children's ongoing learning. For example, staff do not always use children's social experiences and the language they speak at home to further influence the planning of play experiences for children.
• Staff promote children's communication particularly well. They use varied skills to help children to feel confident to communicate their needs. Younger children use gestures and signs to show their preferences for play, food and friends. Staff quickly recognise this and adapt their interactions to support this well. Staff extend the questions to support more confident communicators. This helps these children to increase their vocabulary and to safely express their emotions during their play.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported particularly well. Every small achievement that children make is celebrated and shared. Staff work with parents and other professionals to provide continuous support to help children to make progress in their learning. They take time and careful consideration to plan for and provide effective experiences. This helps to increase children's awareness of others and their communication skills.
• Parents have access to a variety of information to find out about their children's experiences in the setting. Staff use face-to-face conversations and invitations to play days and coffee mornings. Parents are eager to attend, to find out more about children's play. However, not all parents receive the same high level of support as to how to further help their children to learn at home.
• Staff provide children with privacy and promote their understanding of respect. For example, they use gestures and discussions to help children understand the need for nappy changing and take time to talk to them. This makes this part of personal care a positive experience and further supports effective relationships.
• Staff have a positive attitude to developing their practice. They access core training courses and the manager supports them effectively to pursue their interests, especially practices linked to the needs of the group of children attending. For example, staff attend training to promote children's positive behaviour. This helps children to understand the expectations and boundaries in their play.
• Children are excited to move on to school. They look forward to meeting new friends and their teachers, sharing their experiences of visiting their schools with their peers. Staff help children to manage these changes through confident discussions, introducing positive experiences and developing children's independence.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use initial information from parents about all children more effectively, to fully meet children's ongoing needs
• extend the support for how all parents can further support their children's learning at home.