Little Discoveries : Yeovil

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families receive a warm welcome from the friendly and caring staff at this setting. Children separate happily from their parents and are keen to start playing with their friends. Staff form trusting relationships with children and their families. They effectively use information from parents to ensure the care and learning experiences they provide meets each child's individual needs. Children show they are happy, safe, and secure. For example, older children enthusiastically play a paint splatting game with staff. They laugh and cheer as they correctly guess the colour of the paint. Babies and toddlers beam with joy as they hold their arms out for a cuddle from their key person. Staff consistently respond to these interactions with positivity, praise, and encouragement. This helps build children's self-confidence and supports children to value themselves and their uniqueness.

Staff offer a range of motivating activities and resources for children to play with inside and outdoors. These learning experiences help children develop their knowledge and skills across all areas of the curriculum. For instance, older children talk confidently about famous artists they have been looking at. Younger children show their developing physical skills as they accurately stack hoops on a wooden pole.

Children behave well. They listen to staff, follow instructions and join in with routines and boundaries that staff have successfully embedded. Staff sensitively support children of all ages to share and take turns. Children show they are learning how to make friendships. They invite their friends to play with them and pick up things their friends have dropped.

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

• The leadership team has designed and implemented an ambitious and well sequenced curriculum to enable all children to make progress from their individual starting points. There is a clear focus on preparing children for school and providing children with a broad range of experiences. For instance, children painted stones for the local community centre garden as part of a 'random acts of kindness' project. These valuable experiences help children feel part of their local community and helps them understand the world around them.
• Recently, the leadership team has focussed on ensuring the environment gives younger children more opportunities to explore and interact with older children. This flexible approach means younger children have the freedom to investigate new learning in the pre-school room, while still being able to seek comfort and reassurance from their key person. This helps younger children transition into their next room smoothly and with confidence.
• Positive staff deliver the curriculum with energy and enthusiasm. Children show enjoyment as they engage and learn from the wide range of activities staff provide. Older children for instance, quietly giggle as they play 'silly sausages' with supportive staff. This carefully planned activity successfully develops older children's listening and attention skills. However, staff do not always have a clear focus on what they want to teach children through the activities they provide. As result, children do not always focus and engage in some activities for long periods of time to fully extend their learning.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff provide lots of opportunities for parents to become involved in children's learning. For example, parents are invited to termly 'family learning sessions' around various themes. Parents value these opportunities to find out more about helping their children learn at home. They talk about how these sessions and 'friendly and approachable' staff have given them confidence in their parenting. Parents say the opportunities and support staff gives them and their children makes a 'big difference'.
• Staff's interactions and engagement with children are always warm and positive. Staff join children's play, answer children's questions, and encourage children to share their ideas and make their own choices. However, at times staff do not always make the most of opportunities to fully support the youngest children's early language and communication. At times some staff miss valuable opportunities to comment on what the youngest children are doing, echo back what children say, or introduce new words.
• Staff place a priority on developing children's independence skills ready for school. Staff give children many opportunities to try to do things for themselves, while offering support and guidance to children who need it. Older children for example, persevere with putting their own coats on and pulling up their zips as they get ready to go outside. When children manage these tasks for themselves, staff ring a special bell to share children's successes. Children proudly say 'I did it! I did my own zip!' as their friends cheer and clap. These wonderful moments build children's independence, resilience, and self-esteem.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff understand and have a clear focus on what they want to teach children through the activities they provide to fully extend children's learning
• continue to work with staff to help them make the most of all opportunities to support the youngest children's early language and communication.