Little Trinity Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a safe learning environment and an ambitious curriculum so that they can explore and experiment with their ideas throughout the day. Children have the freedom to play imaginatively and are joined by staff who sensitively help to extend their ideas and introduce rich language and concepts. For example, children are supported to make waterfalls in the water and pretend volcanos in the sand. The setting's ethos is to provide a broad range of first-hand experiences for children to learn about living things and the life cycle of plants and animals. For example, when children are busy watering the vegetables, herbs and flowers they have planted, they closely identify how the tadpoles have changed into froglets. Staff plan activities that have clear learning intentions. Children show high levels of engagement. For example, children are quickly enticed by the real lemons, oranges and tea bags as they use their senses and describe what they see and taste. Story sessions are well planned and children delight in using the various visual props. They recall familiar phrases and respond well to questions.

Children develop resilience and cope with change. They manage the routines throughout the day exceptionally well. All children, including the youngest, confidently use the dining room as they wash their hands, choose their name cards and put their plates away once they have finished. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and conduct. They support children's understanding of why behaviour rules are in place. Children respond well to gentle reminders of what is expected from them. As a result, children behave well and respond extremely well to the ringing of the bell when it is time to finish playing.

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

• The actions set at the last inspection have been successfully addressed to ensure children are safe. There are effective systems in place to ensure children are supervised as they play and move freely between the rooms, deciding what to do.
• A rich educational programme is firmly embedded and successfully supports children to acquire the skills they need in preparation for school. Staff carefully observe and assess children and use this information to plan for their learning. Any additional funding that children receive is used by assessing their individual needs. For example, some children receive free meals and benefit from extra-curricular activities such as swimming.
• There is a high focus on supporting children's emotional well-being. Some staff have benefited from training in childhood attachment, trauma and resilience. They demonstrate excellent practice in supporting children's emotional health and well-being.
• Supporting children's transition to school is a high priority. Staff recognise that some children are particularly vulnerable at times of transition and they place an excellent focus on prioritising their emotional development and well-being. Staff have detailed conversations with the school Reception teachers to ensure they can support each child to be confident and comfortable.
• The assigned key persons working with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have a deep understanding of their individual needs. These staff work closely with other professionals working with children. This includes health professionals to ensure that the staff are trained and are able to meet the children's care and medical needs.
• The two deputy managers and the senior leadership team successfully ensure the smooth running of the nursery in the absence of the manager. Staff benefit from supervision sessions and occasional teaching observations to help build on their knowledge and skills. However, the management team has not identified areas for development when children are grouped into their assigned key-person groups. These sessions are not always effective, due to the mixed ages and abilities, and some children lose interest.
• Overall, all children make good progress from their starting points and some excel in some aspects of their literacy and mathematical development. However, staff do not always use what they know about boys and their current interests to plan opportunities to further develop their writing and mathematical learning.
• Staff recognise that each child starts the nursery with different experiences in their play and learning. They are sensitive to children's differing circumstances and work closely with parents to close any gaps in children's development. Parents speak highly of the manager and staff team and the support their children receive. They report that their children are thriving and progress very well from their starting points. Parents appreciate the various special events organised that they can attend, such as the swimming gala and sports day.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff more successfully and support them to plan effectively for their key-person group sessions so that all children can take part fully and get the most from the experience on offer
• support staff to gain a deeper understanding of how to provide appealing writing and mathematical activities for boys to help raise their attainment even further.