Octopus Children's Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, engaged and confident in the setting. They have good relationships with the staff and enjoy their interactions. Children settle quickly and are eager to take part in the activities. They demonstrate how emotionally secure they feel. They have a good understanding of the staff's expectations, such as hanging their coats up and helping to tidy up and prepare tables for snack.

Staff make full use of the available outdoor space, ensuring that children who prefer to learn outdoors have good opportunities to experience all areas of the curriculum. Children are active learners. For example, young children enjoy scooping and pouring rice. Older children use scarves to make large arm movements, and manipulate dough, building their muscles ready for writing.

Leaders and staff plan an ambitious curriculum, which they implement well, focusing successfully on embedding children's prime areas of development. Through effective partnerships with teachers and parents, staff help children to make good progress, preparing them well for school. Children become confident learners with good language skills and the ability to make friends. They enjoy taking part in activities and are willing to have a go at new experiences.

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

• Leaders ensure that staff monitor children's development effectively. They use the information they gather from parents and their own observations to understand what children already know and can do, and what they need to learn next. They quickly identify where children may need additional support, and plan successfully to narrow any gaps in their development.
• Staff plan using children's fascinations to motivate their learning. For example, they use dinosaurs to help children learn about mathematical concepts and complicated vocabulary. However, they occasionally over prepare adult-led craft activities, not always extending children's creativity and learning opportunities as fully as they could.
• Children are confident communicators. Staff provide strong support for children's language skills. They give children time to think, help older children to recall previous experiences, and correct mispronounced words. Children develop a love of books. They are keen for staff to read to them, and enjoy retelling stories with props or taking on the character roles themselves, helping them to remember more.
• The strong key-person system ensures that children feel secure and receive good support, enabling them to feel confident to take part in activities and develop a positive attitude to learning. Overall, children behave well. Staff quickly intervene if there are minor disagreements, and comfort any upset child.
• However, staff do not always help children to understand their emotions or help older children to consider ways to resolve conflict for themselves.
• Staff make good use of routines to help children to become increasingly independent. For example, toddlers start to manage putting on and taking off their coats, so that by the time they start pre-school they need little help. Older children find their lunch bags and open fruit and packages. Staff encourage children to do as much as they can for themselves. They support children well so they keep trying and are pleased when they achieve.
• Children learn the benefits of good health and hygiene practices. They help themselves to fresh drinking water to stay hydrated. Older children manage their personal needs and wash their hands independently. Children learn how to keep themselves safe, on and off the premises.
• The leadership team effectively monitors and evaluates their practice, which ensures good-quality care and learning for children. For example, staff now provide greater support for children's mathematical development. Leaders focus staff's training and development to benefit the children. For example, those responsible for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have been learning about brain development.
• Parents are positive about the setting. They confirm that there is good communication, including daily opportunities to talk to their child's key person. They comment on how well staff work with them to be consistent for children, such as when potty training. Leaders provide good support for families who may have challenges, helping to ensure that all children receive good experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus staff development on providing greater support for children to understand their emotions and enable older children to learn to resolve conflict for themselves
• improve adult-planned art and craft activities, to extend children's creativity and challenge older children's learning more effectively.