Little Leaders Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The setting is a hive of activity where there is a strong sense of fun. Children's confidence, abilities and creativity flourish during their time attending. This is because staff encourage and support them to follow their interests and develop their skills. For example, staff help children find the arts and crafts materials that they would like to use. Staff share in children's amazement when they poke a feather through a box and discover the end of the feather on the inside of the box.

Staff promote children's health and well-being. They understand and value children's need to have plenty of movement. For example, children have extended opportunities to play outside. They also have spaces where they create music, dance and move freely indoors. With staff's modelling, children develop positive social skills, paying close attention to adults and their friends during conversation. They enjoy sharing and celebrating their own interests and achievements with others. For example, older children proudly show visitors a photo album, which shows the variety of experiences they have when they go on weekly outings to natural areas. A senior member of staff, who is trained in delivering an outdoor educational approach leads these purposeful visits.

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

• An experienced and knowledgeable team of leaders and managers have led successful improvements after a recent dip in quality at this bustling childcare setting. Staffing challenges created a need for leaders to recruit several new staff. Leaders have mindfully selected staff who demonstrate the desired traits to contribute positively to the children's care and learning in the setting.
• Leaders and managers have taken prompt action to remedy weaknesses, some of which have been identified through contact with other agencies. Staff now consistently follow suitable food hygiene procedures. The building has also undergone recent maintenance and improvements to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
• Children enjoy spending time with the attentive staff. Staff get to know them well and recognise their unique needs and personalities. Staff build trusting relationships with their key child, supported by a buddy system, which ensures continuity when a key person cannot be present.
• The recently appointed manager has a strong knowledge of good practice. She has prioritised children's safety through improving staff deployment and risk assessment to reduce the risk of accidents. Leaders and managers have swiftly helped the staff team to build their ability to work well with each other to give children a well-organised day. This maximises the amount of time children have to learn and play.
• Throughout the day children have the opportunity to build their speaking and listening skills, and their understanding of language. This is because staff share books, tell them stories, sing songs and chat with them. The manager has identified that there is scope to further increase the range of new and interesting vocabulary that children hear. She is working to strengthen the planning for children's learning to achieve this.
• Leaders and managers work closely with staff and parents. They listen to their views and use them to inform their ambitious plans for continuous improvement.
• Staff design key daily routines with developing children's life skills in mind. For example, children learn to take responsibility as they clear their own plates and wash up when they have finished.
• Children develop good concentration skills, they focus intently on their self-chosen play and learning. Staff help babies with their early thinking skills as they provide coloured balls and cups and encourage babies to play a matching game.
• All staff have appropriate skills that help them to give good support to promote children's development. However, some staff are not fully familiar with some aspects of the provider's curriculum with regards to some teaching techniques that the provider would like them to use. This affects how well some staff implement the curriculum to ensure children build on and extend their learning.
• Staff keep parents informed about children's progress, verbally and through an online system. Where children and/or families need support from other professionals, such as for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, staff help parents to access this.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop further their understanding of how to deliver the intended curriculum to raise the quality of teaching higher.