Little Lambs Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children's curiosity and love of nature and learning are nurtured in this exciting environment. Children happily arrive and are warmly greeted by the friendly staff. They learn about the world around them and make assessments about risk and safety together. For example, younger children dress the 'weather bear' outdoors while reflecting on the suitability of their own clothing. Older children sing the 'weather song' and assess correctly that it is safe to climb trees today.

Forest school sessions stimulate an enormous amount of learning and opportunities for the children to practise new skills. For example, they learn about the life cycle of the frog when observing real frog spawn. In addition, children use tools to build and design during woodwork sessions. Staff have high expectations of children, who show positive attitudes and friendly behaviour towards each other. For example, children work together when pulling filled buckets on pulleys between them.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from effective support. The manager and special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) work closely with outside agencies. This helps to ensure that children with SEND and their families receive the support they need. Staff use additional funding effectively to help promote children's development, which helps them reach their potential.

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

• The passionate manager and her leadership team have a clear vision and intent for the curriculum. They understand what children know and need to learn next. For example, they understand the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's personal development and have put strategies in place to support them, such as home visits. This has a positive impact on children's attachments at the setting.
• Children are highly motivated in this imaginative and engaging environment. Older children excitedly explore and problem solve in the 'secret garden'. For example, they confidently climb trees, developing their muscles and coordination. In addition, they freely jump in muddy puddles with joy. Children learn to negotiate with each other when building with large-scale construction materials and imaginatively create and play with 'pirate ships'.
• Babies receive sensitive care and support from familiar adults, who know them well. Staff are warm, responsive and consistently praise the efforts of babies. For example, at mealtimes, babies are encouraged to feed themselves and receive gentle support and consistent praise for doing so. When babies use single words, staff respond sensitively by repeating and remodelling these to them. This helps babies to feel valued and listened to.
• Younger children delight in making 'fairy fishing rods' with sticks and string and eagerly set about 'catching fairies' in the garden. Staff introduce children to mathematical language while building sandcastles, such as 'bigger', 'smaller', 'full' and 'empty'. However, at times, staff do not fully extend their interactions and teaching. This does not support the development of younger children to a higher level.
• The manager values the well-being of her staff team and ensures they receive regular supervisions and mentoring. There are effective processes to support staff's professional development. However, these are not yet fully successful in raising the quality of interaction and teaching to the highest level.
• Support for children with SEND is good. The manager and SENCo use inclusion funding accurately and work alongside outside professionals to target support precisely. For example, children with SEND receive specific staff support to explore the calming sensory room. In addition, there is a strong focus on promoting children's speech and language development.
• Overall, children's behaviour is good, and staff support children's learning well. Children have a good understanding of the routine and boundaries and follow instructions well. At times, staff do not organise some routines well in the younger age group. For instance, toddlers became restless while waiting for their lunch, as there are few meaningful learning experiences.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents praise the staff for being flexible and supportive. They say staff provide good information about children's development through verbal feedback and the online app. Parents report that there has been a positive impact on their children's development since starting at the setting. This includes improved behaviour and increased vocabulary.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• organise the routine around mealtimes more effectively for younger children, to reduce waiting times and support children's learning consistently
• build on support for staff to enhance the already good levels and quality of interaction and teaching with younger children to the highest level.