Little Diamonds Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eagerly and are ready to play and learn. They happily leave their parents and carers and go with staff to their playrooms. Older children do things independently as they find their picture name cards and self-register. Babies recognise the familiar faces of the staff, making eye contact and smiling. Toddlers understand frequently used words and say single words. They understand simple instructions and help to tidy away toys. Staff share picture books with and read stories to children to encourage them develop their vocabulary. Older children join in conversations about the story and retell what they know. Children take part in role play as they they listen to the story 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. They dress up in a tiger costume and pretend to drink tea and eat cake. All of this helps to support their language and communication.

Children's social development progresses well as they sit in small groups and take part in pretend play activities. They use their hands confidently to pick up and handle small resources. All children are well behaved and can confidently express their emotions, as they feel emotionally safe. Staff have high expectations of every child, which is evident in their interactions with children, who are praised and supported effectively to learn and develop.

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

• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have appropriate support in place to help them progress. Leaders and staff work well with external agencies to obtain the help they need. Leaders use additional funding effectively to purchase resources to help develop all children's learning. The sensory room helps children to relax and and regulate their behaviour. Children enjoy the tactile and visual resources available to them.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents speak highly of staff and are happy with the feedback they receive about their child's learning. Staff offer parents ideas about how they can support their child's learning at home. Parents regularly use the online app to share and obtain information about their child and the nursery procedures.
• Staff take part in regular supervisory meetings to discuss their practice, and arrange further training to help support their professional development. Leaders arrange training days and access training from the local authority to help build staff's childcare knowledge. They have recently introduced activity boxes, which help staff to understand the intent of activities and how to implement them. The current team is fairly new and leaders are working to develop it further. They use regular agency staff to ensure consistency for children. However, not all agency staff understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Staff carry out thorough risk assessments to remove any potential hazards in the environment. Leaders ensure that staff are suitably vetted to work with children and their ongoing suitability is regularly reviewed.
• Leaders and staff provide an ambitious curriculum which helps support children to make progress from their starting points. The environment, both inside and outside, is well planned and stimulating. However, staff do not consistently implement the curriculum intent when interacting with children to show they know what they want children to do next.
• Leaders self-reflect well, which has helped staff to improve their practice and ensure better outcomes for children. For example, the play and learning environment has been extended and rearranged to better meet children's needs. Staff have completed training and leaders are trained to offer forest school learning. Every week, staff take children to the the local forest school. Children are inspired and have hands-on experiences in the natural environment. They build confidence as they problem-solve and learn to manage risks. Children explore the natural environment and learn in it.
• Young babies enjoy play in the ball pond. This gives them a sensory delight that allows them to roll, wiggle, twist and swim through the colourful balls.
• Older children make their own play dough, which supports them to develop their hand, eye, arm and body coordination and their finger and hand muscles. They manipulate the dough in a variety of ways, such as squeezing, patting, pounding, rolling, poking and pinching.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to implement the curriculum and be clear about what they want children to know and be able to do
• improve systems for ensuring that agency staff understand their roles and responsibilities.