Our Little Angelz (4) Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff provide a warm, empathetic and nurturing welcome to every child and their family. This supports strong relationships from the outset. Older children greet one another on arrival and confidently engage in the self-registration process. They use emotion monsters to express how they are feeling, placing their photo with the corresponding coloured monster. Staff use this information effectively to identify any children who may need emotional support and to help them settle. As a result, children feel safe, valued and develop a strong sense of belonging.

Staff plan the learning environment carefully to meet children's individual needs and interests. They use what they know about children to provide meaningful opportunities that engage them in learning. For example, when children show an interest in drawing, staff offer a range of creative resources throughout the room. These activities promote children's physical development effectively and support their early writing skills in preparation for school readiness.

Children thoroughly enjoy their time in the garden, where they engage in rich imaginative play. They form strong friendships as they take on different roles, such as selling ice creams from the playhouse or riding bikes to a pretend school. These experiences support their social development and extend their creativity. Staff encourage children to develop their communication and language skills through reading stories or singing songs together.

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

• Leaders have fostered a positive and collaborative team culture. As a result, staff say their well-being is supported and that they feel valued in their role. They attend regular supervision sessions and staff meetings, where they discuss training needs to support their knowledge and understanding of nursery policies and procedures. This helps ensure that staff fully understand what is expected of them and contributes to raising the quality of experiences children receive.
• Parents speak positively about the care and attention staff give their children and say that their children enjoy attending nursery. Staff regularly share updates with parents on children's learning and suggest ways to support this further at home. Parents comment that parents' evening is valuable for holding more in-depth discussions with their child's key person.
• Leaders and staff work closely with parents and professionals when they identify delays in children's learning and development. Staff implement clear, targeted support for individual children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). As a result, these children continue to make progress from their starting points.
• Staff are kind and respectful in their interactions with children. They speak softly and gently, offering comfort and reassurance, particularly when settling children to sleep. These nurturing interactions support children's emotional security. Staff generally model and support positive behaviour well. However, on occasion, expectations around rules and boundaries are not always applied consistently. During some group activities, children can at times become overly excited, which can disrupt the learning for other children.
• Younger babies show high levels of engagement as they explore sensory resources. For example, they become fascinated by spaghetti in a tray, scooping it into bowls with curiosity. Staff skilfully encourage them to use utensils, supporting the development of coordination and independence in preparation for self-feeding. Staff are animated in their interactions, and babies respond with joy, giggling at the playful sounds made during exploration.
• Staff monitor children's development effectively and identify next steps to help close any gaps in learning. They plan a broad range of activities that children are motivated and eager to explore. However, during some activities, there are occasions when staff do not consistently build on what children already know and can do. As a result, some opportunities to deepen children's understanding and extend their learning are missed.
• Staff implement clear and consistent self-care and hygiene routines with all children across the setting. Children sit with their friends and staff and enjoy a sociable mealtime together. Staff offer children encouragement to do things for themselves, such as pouring their own drinks and using their cutlery to eat their meals. Children talk about what they have enjoyed during the morning session, further developing their independence and social skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consistently embed the rules and boundaries to support children to gain a clear understanding of how to behave respectfully and cooperatively
• refine teaching during activities so that staff consistently build on what children already know and can do to help deepen learning.