Little Dragons Child Care Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff know children very well and build strong relationships with them. As a result, children are happy and settled at this setting. Staff are attuned to children's emotional well-being as they provide an environment and routine that encourage children to make choices. They help them to enjoy their time in this welcoming environment as they sit alongside them and help scaffold learning while they play. Children's independence is nurtured as they serve themselves snacks at snack time. They pour themselves drinks of water throughout the day, skilfully operating the pouring mechanism on the water container. Children's oral health is enhanced because staff help children to brush their own teeth every day.

Children develop a good awareness of the world around them and of their own community. This is because staff plan outings in the local area and trips to the library and park. Furthermore, staff make sure that the resources available for play are relevant to those children attending and reflect the diversity of the local area.

Communication and language development is a priority. Staff follow a structured routine to fully support children's early language development. This includes focused intervention activities, as well as weaving books and stories into daily play activities. For example, children play with the imaginatively displayed puppets that help tell the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

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

• Leaders and staff are committed to providing an inclusive provision that meets the needs of all children, and especially children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This aspect is very strong, considerate to children and their parents, and embedded with empathy and understanding. Staff endeavour to adapt the provision so that all children benefit from rich early years experiences.
• Staff are very aware of children's individual care and education needs and keep these at the heart of what they do. Leaders work very closely with the staff, other professionals and parents to provide focused individual support for children who need extra help. Additional funding is used for targeted intervention and specific resources to help children's progress. For example, a sensory hub has been built in an area of the garden. This provides children with a quiet and calm sensory environment to use as and when they need it.
• Leaders are passionate about making sure that the curriculum is effective, ambitious and designed to meet the needs of the children who attend. It builds on what children know and can do and reflects the experiences they have had. The educational provision covers all areas of learning and values how children play. The balance of child-led and adult-focused activities means that children have lots of time to play and learn.
• Staff understand child development milestones and know the children very well. This helps them to make accurate decisions about children's progress and what they need to prioritise next. As a team, on a regular basis, staff skilfully plan for children's next steps, recognising children's likes and their personalities. They use their observations of children to identify any gaps in learning. An example of this is the recent, planned focus on improving progress in mathematical development. However, staff do not always use enough mathematical language, or consistently help children to understand mathematical concepts as they play.
• Children benefit from the wide range of learning opportunities available to them. The areas of learning are supported, both indoors and outdoors, and staff thoughtfully provide interesting and intriguing experiences. For example, the creative station contains a wide range of resources so that children can create scented potions. However, staff do not always offer enough challenge in their teaching to extend children's learning even more.
• Leaders support the staff very well. They are attentive and attuned to their feelings, and implement a range of ways to support their mental health and well-being. For example, leaders have accessed mental health first-aid training. Furthermore, they provide baskets of treats for staff and arrange team-building events.
• Partnerships with parents are a strength of this setting. Leaders and staff are enthusiastic about building meaningful relationships with children and their families. For example, home visits take place prior to children starting. This helps children make the transition from home to the setting calmly. Parents speak very highly of the staff. Daily discussions, and the use of an online communication tool, mean that parents know about their child's development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• broaden staff's knowledge of how to support children's mathematical concepts and ideas better and how to introduce a wide range of mathematical language in interactions
• build on the already good quality of teaching so that children's active learning and critical thinking are consistently challenged and extended at a higher level.