Little Pioneers Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the setting and build secure relationships with their key person. Babies cuddle up with staff and listen to them singing songs and reading stories. Children confidently move around the environment, inside and outside. They explore sensory experiences, such as sand, mud and water play. In the garden, children excitedly work together to sweep the fallen leaves and throw them in the air. Children form friendships and are kind and supportive to each other. For example, they help their friends by holding their hands while they balance on wooden beams.

Children's behaviour is good. They are well supported by staff to help them learn how to manage their emotions. For example, staff help children to find solutions to any minor disputes that occur and respond sensitively to them. Children show a good understanding of the rules and boundaries. For instance, before using large climbing structures, they line up and recall the rules that are in place to help keep them safe. Staff plan stimulating learning experiences for children based on their interests. This leads to children being engaged and focused. Children become immersed in opportunities that support them to develop their fine motor skills, such as rolling and moulding play dough and using spoons to scoop rice.

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

• The manager has developed a curriculum that builds on children's prior knowledge. For example, staff follow children's interest in baby dolls by setting up a hospital role play activity with plasters and bandages. However, staff do not always fully consider how to extend children's learning through their interactions or provide resources to enhance children's learning opportunities. For example, staff do not consistently ensure that there are mark-making materials at activities that invite children to draw.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents speak very positively about the staff and the care that their children receive. They describe the staff as 'kind and supportive' and say that their children are 'always eager to attend'. Staff regularly share ideas of how parents can support their children at home. This leads to parents feeling included in their children's education.
• The manager supports her staff team well. She completes regular supervisions with staff to identify any support that they may require. Staff observe each other's practice and give feedback in order to improve and develop their skills. However, although staff complete necessary training to keep children safe, their professional development opportunities are not focused on how to identify accurately children's next steps in learning. This means that staff do not always identify precisely what it is that they want children to learn next.
• Children develop an interest in books and enjoy listening to stories read by staff.
• During story time, staff provide children with props, such as containers filled with items related to the book, so that they can actively participate. This helps to keep children engaged. Older children enjoy sitting down together and reading to each other.
• Staff know the children they care for well. They are kind and nurturing. However, on occasion, staff do not follow younger children's cues that their individual routine needs adapting. For example, when children demonstrate that they are tired, staff do not always respond in a timely manner.
• Staff provide a variety of healthy meals and snacks, which children serve themselves. Staff ensure that children with dietary requirements are well catered for. They help children learn where food comes from by giving them opportunities to grow their own vegetables. Children become excited when they find a radish in the growing area and proudly show the staff.
• Children's independence is well promoted. For example, staff encourage children to have a go at wiping their own noses. During snack time, children use jugs to pour their own milk, and staff support them to do so carefully. Children benefit from plenty of opportunities for physical exercise in the fresh air.
• The setting has a designated special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) who is confident in her role. She competently identifies children who may require additional support and implements effective plans to help them make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to strengthen the delivery of the curriculum further so that they consistently consider the interactions, activities and resources that they provide, to make the most of children's learning opportunities
• encourage staff to further their professional development to help improve their understanding of how to identify accurately the next steps in children's learning
• ensure staff consistently recognise and respond to changes in the individual sleep routines of the youngest children.