Little Lambs Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and separate from parents with ease. They enjoy coming into the well-resourced nursery, where they can independently choose what activities to complete or what resources to play with. Staff are kind and nurturing. Lots of cuddles are given to babies. Some are rocked in the arms of staff as they fall asleep. Children feel safe and secure. They are confident and happily share their experiences with new people. Babies enjoy exploring play dough, as they squish and squeeze it through their fingers. They play peekaboo with staff through pop-up tunnels and crawl through, giggling with their friends.

Toddlers enjoy transporting sand and creating their own imaginary beach. They help to make and explore sticky slime. They take pride in their achievements and staff reward them with praise. This helps to build their self-esteem. Pre-school children enjoy participating in activities designed to build their small-muscle skills, ready for pencil control and writing. They use tweezers to try and pick up buttons. Staff are skilful in interacting to introduce other areas of learning, such as mathematics. Children work out how many more buttons are needed to complete their task. All children enjoy time outdoors in the excellent outdoor space the provider has created from them. They practise their large-muscle skills as they walk along balance beams or ride tricycles. Children are encouraged to manage their own risk safely.

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

• The provider, who is also the manager, and her staff have worked hard to address the weakness identified at the last inspection. Training has been provided and staff deployment is effective in ensuring children are supervised.
• Effective monitoring of staff ensures the quality of teaching is consistently good. The provider and staff complete reflection sheets, reviewing what went well and how they can continually provide activities which enhance the quality of the experiences provided for children.
• The provider's curriculum centres around the children. It is designed to continually build on their skills and knowledge. Children make good progress and become successful learners. They learn skills to equip them to be ready for their transition into other rooms, and eventual move onto school.
• Staff know the children very well and plan activities in line with their interests. For example, children show an interest in minibeasts and insects, so staff introduce a life cycle of a caterpillar. Children have been caring for the caterpillars and watch as one emerges from its chrysalis. Children tell the inspector it is a 'painted lady butterfly'.
• Children demonstrate high levels of engagement at their chosen activity. Children partake in a question of the day. They decide together the question they want to know, such as 'do crabs have teeth?' or 'if caterpillars eat different coloured leaves, does this impact on the colour of the butterfly?' Staff then look the question up on an electronic device and find the answer for the children.
• A love of literacy is promoted throughout the nursery. All age groups of children participate in stories. This helps to strengthen communication and language skills. Younger children have laminated masks of characters from the story. This helps to support them be involved. Staff ask pre-school children questions about the story to promote them to use their critical thinking skills. However, on occasion, in group activities, children who do not have as much confidence are not always supported well enough to participate. This results in them not joining in or not being heard.
• Good hygiene practices ensure that children learn the importance of washing their hands. Children benefit from healthy snacks and cooked meals. Daily routines help children understand when it is time to tidy up, get ready for lunch or to go outside. However, the organisation of the transitions between different activities sometimes results in children standing or waiting for periods time. This results in children becoming restless and not accessing the curriculum on offer. That said, overall children behave well.
• Parents comment that their children really enjoy coming to the nursery and they are learning lots. They particularly like the 'homely' feel of the nursery, and that children are encouraged to be independent and learn to do things for themselves. Detailed information is shared regularly with parents. Parents also comment that they like that the provider, and that staff are very friendly and approachable.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of daily routines to make sure children are able to consistently access the curriculum
• help staff to support further those children who may have less confidence than others, to be able to share their thoughts and ideas in group activities.