Peter Pan Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Parents and carers say that children are excited when they arrive at the centre and see staff's smiley faces. Children clap their hands and are eager to start their play. This demonstrates that children feel safe and happy. Managers and staff carefully tailor every part of the session to meet children's individual needs. For example, each group's welcome time is designed differently. This helps staff to capture children's full attention and advance their learning. One group look towards the big, colourful parachute that staff move gently up and down. Children hear staff singing. They know that this is a signal to come and join in with the group in their own way. Staff notice and celebrate each child's response. This helps children to feel really valued and important.

The team continued to provide dedicated support for children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff made videos of themselves reading stories. This helped children to recognise them when everyone returned to the centre. Managers delivered play and learning resources to homes. Parents value the 'ideas and inspiration' that enable them to promote children's well-being and continue their progress. Staff demonstrate high expectations for children's behaviour. Their interactions with children are unfailingly calm and positive. This helps children to understand and follow rules and routines.

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

• The centre's trustees and managers pool their experience and expert knowledge really effectively. This helps them to make use of the best available evidence when they review and modify practice. For example, the team moved away from offering every child one-to-one adult support. The impact of this change in approach achieved and exceeded the stated intention. Children now explore more confidently. This means that staff gain even more knowledge of children by observing their choices and watching how they play and interact.
• Managers and staff encourage and inspire each other. This leads to innovative practice that continuously evolves. One example is the 'snack trolley'. Each drawer is labelled with pictures of its contents. This teaches children that a picture gives them useful information. Staff encourage children to go to the trolley and find what they want. They respect and reinforce children's selections. This motivates children to do it again at the next snack time. As a consequence, children experience success and become increasingly independent.
• Staff make children's communication development a priority. They support children to find ways to express their needs. They create reasons for children to communicate. Staff grab children's attention by shooting shaving foam high in the air. They repeat 'ready, steady, go' each time. Children want the foam to shoot up again. They indicate 'more' or join in with the word 'go'. Children's participation brings them the reward they seek. It teaches them that communication is powerful.
• Staff follow highly consistent routines that stem from each child's learning programme. They use objects and pictures to help children to understand what will happen next, such as when it is time to change a nappy or wash hands. Staff always use the word 'finished' at the end of activities. Clear communication from staff helps to promote children's emotional well-being. Children gain increasing control of their feelings and impulses.
• Staff benefit from well-targeted supervision and training. This is rooted in individual coaching that continuously sharpens and extends staff's skills and knowledge. Managers encourage everyone to share their ideas. They initiate reflective thinking at staff meetings. For example, the team agreed plans to further enrich children's experience of diverse communities. Staff say that they feel valued and want to keep learning.
• Strong partnerships play a vital role in the work of the centre. Staff exchange information with other settings that children attend or will move to. Managers incorporate multi-agency planned targets into children's individual programmes. For example, they support staff to implement advice and training delivered by teachers of the sensory impaired. This helps to ensure that every child makes sustained progress from their starting points.
• Parents give high praise to the centre team. They say that managers help them to find a path through the emotionally taxing processes that their children's assessment involves. Parents comment that staff help them to feel positive about their children's future. They learn how to help their children to progress one step at a time in their development.