More 2 Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are highly motivated and self-assured learners. All children, including those in receipt of additional funding, make secure progress across all areas of learning. Leaders devise an ambitious and well-designed curriculum that stretches children. Children reach their full potential.

Children demonstrate high levels of curiosity in play and learning and maintain excellent engagement. For example, babies delight in making marks on large sheets of paper, using different tools and their hands. Pre-school children build their fine motor and investigative skills as they use pipettes to collect water into tubes. They observe intently what happens when colour and soda are added to the water. They speculate on their ideas and use words such as 'fizzy' when discussing the liquid mixture.

Staff set high expectations for children's learning and use their knowledge of child development very well to plan for what children need to learn. They organise the learning areas exceptionally well. Babies move around competently in the well-organised room, exploring sensory toys and building on their curiosity. Toddlers become enthralled when exploring ducks and water alongside staff, and they sing the 'Five Little Ducks' nursery rhyme. Children display high levels of self-esteem and excitedly make independent choices in their play.

Children are very active learners. Leaders and staff ensure that the routine and structure of the day enables children to spend a significant amount of time outdoors, climbing and manoeuvring on play apparatus and investigating nature.

Children feel extremely happy, safe and content in the nursery. Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour. Children are highly confident and behave well for their age.

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

• Leaders are highly committed to providing the best quality of care and education to children. They structure the curriculum with children and their families in mind. The curriculum is broad and highly ambitious. For instance, leaders place great emphasis on developing children's knowledge, including in subjects such as mathematics, and understanding of the world to support their future learning. Children of all ages benefit from highly stimulating and engaging learning experiences. Children are exceptionally eager to explore, investigate and learn.
• The dedicated staff team knows children extremely well. Staff demonstrate a deep understanding of children's care and learning needs. Teaching is consistent and tailored to children's individual needs and stages of development. Leaders and staff act promptly to organise extra support, working highly effectively with outside agencies to ensure that no child is left behind. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make excellent progress from their starting points of entry.
• Leaders are highly successful in evaluating the effectiveness of the provision. They place high priority on staff's professional development. They work collaboratively with higher educational institutions to share and promote best teaching practice. Staff benefit from training opportunities to help them to extend their practice. For instance, recent training in literacy has successfully enhanced the curriculum in this area of learning. Children have a strong passion for books, and staff read with enthusiasm. Babies and toddlers maintain high levels of engagement and concentration during story time activities. Older children easily recognise letters of the alphabet when they are developmentally ready. They show high levels of confidence when practising writing their names.
• Staff are attentive to the children's needs. They are highly skilled in supporting children's social and emotional development. They use a gentle and calm approach to speak to the children. They consistently reiterate the importance of kind hands and use a well-tailored approach to help children who find certain situations challenging. Staff build trusting and secure relationships with children and offer lots of praise to boost their self-esteem. Children are emotionally secure and behave well.
• Children are highly independent and responsible. Staff intuitively teach children to acquire self-care skills and good personal hygiene. For instance, staff teach toddlers how to wash their hands independently and dispose of used tissues in the bin. Children aged two and three years are encouraged to serve their meals, scrape off leftover food into the bin and clean their faces after eating. Children complete these tasks with increased confidence and competence. Not only do children acquire skills in readiness for school, but they are also well prepared for life.
• Leaders and staff use highly effective strategies to support parent engagement. Staff consistently share information about what children are learning, and what they need to learn next, with parents. They provide activity packs for parents to support their children's learning at home. These packs are regularly reviewed to assess the impact on children's learning. Parents give extremely positive feedback about the service and report that their children have made excellent progress, particularly in their communication and language development.