Nailsworth Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The setting has developed a strong curriculum, which aims to give children a wide range of skills, knowledge and experiences. This has been thoughtfully considered and structured so that children learn the skills they need through play, new opportunities and focused activities. Staff understand the needs of the children who attend and have high aspirations for their learning and development. Additional funding is used effectively to provide the targeted resources and experiences some children require to thrive and develop.

Staff find out about the experiences children have at home and plan activities to broaden these. For example, some children live in flats with no gardens. Children have access to the outside area in all weathers, which is of high priority to the staff. This supports their physical development and encourages healthy lifestyles. Children develop good hand-eye coordination as they hit small balls with rackets and play catch with staff and each other. Staff provide a variety of opportunities for children to strengthen their core muscles during climbing and balancing activities. Children navigate the different levels in the outside area. They climb up steps, walk up grassy slopes and balance on low wooden walls. Children learn to challenge themselves and manage risks during play, which builds on their self-confidence.

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

• Staff work in close partnership with parents and other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to support children's development effectively, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They use visual aids and simple sign language to support children to communicate. As a result, children who had limited speech are now able to express themselves using words. Staff support children's communication and language skills very well.
• Children enjoy books and listen carefully during story time. Staff sit with the younger children and take time to look at the pictures in the books, pointing to them as they turn the pages. Children notice pictures of faces showing different emotions. Staff help the children understand their feelings by describing what they see and showing how it makes them feel with their own facial expressions. Staff provide good support for children to learn how they may be feeling.
• Staff work together well and support children's learning needs. They use visual timetables to help children understand what they are doing now and what will happen next. However, on occasion, especially when children finish an activity or leave the table after a meal, children are not always fully engaged or supported. This leads to some children wandering around the room, and this impacts on valuable play and learning time.
• Staff plan rich opportunities to teach children about the world around them, the local community and different cultures and festivals, for example Chinese New Year. Children eagerly share what they have learned, saying, 'Do you want to see our dragon dance? Red makes good luck. Do you want to hide under the table because it might be a little bit scary. We are making a dragon and then dancing a little dance.'
• Children develop good self-help skills. They collect the plates from the snack station and hand them out to their friends. Children then sit quietly and butter crackers and pour drinks. Staff have observed that some children are reluctant to eat fruit and use plenty of encouragement and conversation around healthy eating to motivate children to try different fruits.
• Staff enjoy working at this setting, and they are confident in their roles. Staff receive some guidance during supervision sessions and appraisal meetings. However, the current arrangements for staff's coaching and mentoring are not as robust as they could be. This means that some staff are not clear on how they can improve their practice to help them to improve their day-to-day teaching.
• Children are supported to manage their behaviour. For example, older children receive stars that recognise their achievements and a certificate once they have filled up the star pot. This contributes to helping them recognise their positive behaviours.
• Parents speak highly about the care and support staff provide and the good progress their children make. Staff support parents to extend children's learning at home, such as through a lending library. Staff provide each parent with a written account of their child's next steps and ask parents to review the information and feed back their thoughts. Staff are proactive in working together with parents to support children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation of transitions between activities to help children to stay engaged and focused on their learning
• strengthen the coaching and mentoring for staff to further develop their skills and provide more consistency in the quality of education.