Minitots Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy at nursery and separate from their parents and carers with confidence. Staff use simple sign language and pictures to support children's communication and understanding. Staff deployment is effective. Children are generally supervised well. However, on occasions, the lunchtime routine in the pre-school room provides less support for some children.

Staff help children to learn how to express their emotions, such as learning new words to help them describe how they are feeling. Staff provide opportunities for children to make marks on different surfaces. Older children colour in pictures of their school uniform while staff talk to them about their move to 'big school'. Parents confirm how well staff support children's emotional well-being and help them to manage and regulate their behaviour.

Staff prepare children well for transitions to the next stage of their learning. Children become familiar with sitting in small groups, and they learn the names of their friends and the days of the week. Staff introduce stories such as 'The Playground is like the Jungle'. Children become independent through their daily routines. For instance, they take their empty plates to place in the box for washing. Staff liaise with other schools when children are moving to Reception to help with the transition. However, the partnerships with other settings that children attend are less well developed.

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

• The management team provides staff with regular supervision. It monitors staff practice and identifies training needs. Staff confirm that they feel well supported. The management team has recently focused on improving the staff's knowledge of safeguarding procedures. This has ensured that staff understand how to keep children safe. The setting works with the local authority to improve its practice and develop the service. Additional funding is used effectively to provide cooked meals for these children and enable them to attend extra sessions.
• Staff plan a varied curriculum where children can learn both inside and outside. They find out what children are interested in and use this to plan and provide a range of activities that support all areas of the curriculum. Staff identify what children need to learn, which is specific for each age group. For the youngest children, they focus on building the relationship with the child and their family, their physical skills and communication. For older children, staff support children in extending their speech and language, social and self-help skills and provide opportunities to strengthen their physical development.
• Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning. There are good levels of engagement between staff and children. Staff support children in their play, describing what they are doing and asking them simple questions such as how they can make the water go through the funnel and down the pipe. However, on occasions, there is less challenge provided for most-able children.
• Children follow simple rules throughout the day. They know they wash their hands before they eat their food. When they hear staff sing a certain song, they know it is time for circle time and rush to take their seat in the circle. Staff use positive praise to encourage children when they do well, such as 'good job', and children reciprocate the praise when staff reset the train track for them.
• Children's communication and language are supported well. Staff read stories and sing songs throughout the day. Children become familiar with stories. They love, for instance, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. They retell the story using the pictures as prompts and learn new vocabulary such as 'swishy'. Children with additional needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language and funded children are well supported. They love 'bucket time' and focus for long periods while staff produce interesting items to maintain their attention and encourage them to listen and concentrate.
• Parents comment their children are happy to come to the setting. They feel well supported by the staff, for instance to complete school applications. Parents confirm they can see the progress their child has made since starting. Staff update parents on their child's day when they collect them from the setting and online about the events throughout the years and the activities the children take part in.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the planning of activities to identify how learning can be adapted to provide further challenge for most-able children
• review the organisation of lunchtime to ensure that staff focus on providing the necessary support children need
• extend partnerships with other settings that children attend to share information about their development and how their learning is being supported.