Little Ones Whipton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel safe and secure. They enjoy positive relationships with staff. Children show this as they happily leave their parents at the door and come into play with their key person and friends. Staff help teach children to recognise their names and find their pegs to hang their coats. Children have a strong sense of belonging.

Staff plan and implement an effective communication and language curriculum. They read the same storybook to the children over the week. Children learn key phrases and words from the story. Staff check what children have remembered by pausing and asking them what comes next or by calling a character an incorrect name. Children correct the staff and tell them the real names of the characters. Staff vary how they communicate with children to ensure all of them can access and enjoy the story. For example, staff use hand signs with children to help their understanding and support their speech.

Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively. They work closely with parents and other professionals to meet the needs of the children. Staff use strategies to aid communication with children with SEND. For example, when it is time to change a nappy, staff will show children a nappy as a reference to ease the transition.

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

• Leaders identify training opportunities to enhance staff's professional development. For example, all staff attend training in mathematics to improve outcomes for children. Following the training, staff confidently teach pre-school children early addition. They ask children to hold up two fingers on one hand and two fingers on another. Staff ask the children, 'How many do you have?'. Children gain a good understanding of numbers. They count out loud and conclude they have four in total.
• Staff help babies begin to understand what makes them unique. They look at a small mirror together. Babies point to their nose, eyes, ears and teeth. Attentive staff extend this interest and move to a larger mirror. Staff point to other parts of their face, such as their chin. Babies watch and copy. Staff look at pictures of faces around the mirror and teach babies about emotions. Babies make a happy face and a sad face. Staff build on this learning further by singing a well-known song about being happy.
• Children develop their finger dexterity. Babies play with flour and use their hands to apply pressure and pat it down. Toddlers use large chalks on a board outside. They grip the chalks securely and draw lines. Pre-school children make fine marks on a notepad with a pencil. They ask staff to write a shopping list. Pre-school children begin to learn that writing is for a purpose.
• The manager shares information about the storybook of the week on the front door for parents. She suggests activities that parents could do at home with their children linked to the story. However, staff do not share children's individual next steps of development with all parents, to keep them informed of their progress and further their learning at home.
• Children learn to be physically strong. They swing on a swing and climb up a climbing wall. They develop core strength as they pull themselves up and go down the other side. Children are resilient and persevere as they climb. If at first they do not make it to the top, they try again until they succeed. Children walk on balance beams and become confident in what their bodies can do.
• Children learn good manners. Staff encourage them to say 'please' and 'thank you' at snack time. Staff remind them to wash and dry their hands. Children like to be independent and follow these instructions. However, staff do not organise the lunchtime routine to minimise the amount of time children wait for their lunch and promote their levels of well-being. For example, children wait for an extended period until all babies, toddlers and pre-school children sit at the tables ready for lunch. At times, children become agitated with each other, and this negatively impacts their well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• share children's individual next steps of development with all parents, to keep them informed of their progress and further their learning at home
• organise the lunchtime routine to minimise the amount of time children wait for their lunch, and promote their well-being.