Little Learning Ladder

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show impressive levels of confidence at this setting. They are self-assured, expressive and eager to share their opinions. Pre-school children show a sense of security, as they feel safe to approach the inspector and share their views and questions. Younger children smile and wave and share their favourite books with the inspector. All children clearly feel content and safe with the familiar staff close by. The management team and staff have high expectations for every child. They recognise what children can already do and skilfully plan a curriculum that builds upon this knowledge. All children quickly make progress, and any gaps in development begin to diminish.

Children behave well. They are kind, use wonderful manners unprompted and help their friends. For example, older children share toys and resources with one another. Younger children excitedly point out pictures in books to their friends, sharing fun experiences together. Children listen respectfully to staff. Staff, in turn, are highly respectful to all children. They seek consent before performing personal care tasks and show children that their voices are heard by accommodating their individual choices. This helps to build strong, genuine bonds between staff and children. Children's emotional well-being is given high priority by all at this setting. This contributes towards their happiness and levels of enjoyment while attending.

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

• The management team is dedicated and passionate. The team maintains keen oversight over the setting, staff, children and families. Staff feel supported and encouraged to evolve and move up in their careers. The management team completes supervisions with all staff and readily identifies areas for improvement and celebrates staff strengths. Staff appreciate this and feel they 'work harder' and 'learn more' in this positive environment. This is reflected in the high quality of teaching across the setting, which benefits all children.
• Overall, children's communication and language skills are well supported. Staff support children to develop an early love for reading and literature. They read stories to children with animation and using exciting voices. Children giggle and smile, and they are able to maintain concentration for long periods of time. They are captivated by these stories and point out their favourite characters and shout out what will happen next. However, some staff ask children too many questions in quick succession. Children do not always have appropriate time to think and respond. Additionally, staff do not always use the correct terminology when speaking to children. Despite this, children demonstrate good conversational skills and begin to learn new words.
• The curriculum is highly sequenced, and it is designed to build upon what children already know. Children proudly share their knowledge with the inspector. For instance, pre-school children show the inspector that they can count from one to five in Chinese, which is a skill they have recently been working on. They do this without the need for any staff support. Younger children similarly remember how to use sign language to name colours. This shows that children are retaining new knowledge.
• Adjustments are made to support the needs of every child. Staff and the management team work closely with other professionals and children's families to provide the most suitable learning environment for all children. Staff recognise that all children are individuals and therefore have their own needs. This supports all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make good progress.
• Parents and grandparents praise the management team and staff. They feel staff go 'absolutely over the top' to teach and support their children. Parents appreciate the progress their children make at the setting. They feel well equipped to support their children further at home due to the 'constant' and 'priceless' information and guidance they receive from the management team.
• Children learn about the world they live in. Staff encourage children to celebrate differences and varying ways of life. Each month, staff explore a different culture with all children. They consider foods, similarities and differences, festivals and other exciting aspects. This helps to encourage children to respect others and to embrace the diverse world they live in, which in turn prepares children for life in modern Britain.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use proper terminology when speaking with children in order to support their growing bank of vocabulary
• encourage staff to allow children adequate time to think and respond when asking questions, to support their emerging critical-thinking skills.