Peter Pan Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive and show that they feel safe in this welcoming and nurturing playgroup. They are greeted warmly by staff, who know them well. Staff gently encourage those less eager to attend after the Christmas break to come in and explore activities they know will interest and excite them. Children soon settle and enjoy their time playing with staff and their friends. They show enthusiasm in what they do and become deeply engaged in their activities. When children play in the water, they scoop, pour and splash each other and enjoy making bubbles appear. Staff model pouring and scooping and begin to count the number of times children do this to introduce the concept of number. Children participate in and enjoy a range of mark-making and creative activities. Staff support children in learning how to use scissors safely as they cut up pieces of collage materials and stick these to paper.

Children show good behaviour and follow instructions well. Staff help them to share and take turns as they play. Children know to use sand and electronic timers when they want a turn with a toy or activity. They explain that, when the sounds goes off, it is their turn next. Children work together at tidy-up time and follow staff instructions. All these aspects contribute to children developing positive behaviour.

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

• Since the last inspection, the manager and staff have worked hard to improve the provision for children. They have worked in close partnership with the local authority to ensure the curriculum offered to children is appropriate, understood by staff and challenging to the children.
• Staff interact well with the children as they play. They ensure the activities they offer reflect not only children's interests, but also what they need to learn next. This attention to detail helps children to become engaged in their play and learn well overall. For example, children concentrate and consider how to make a car from plastic bricks. However, staff do not always embrace opportunities during children's activities to further engage and challenge them in their learning and development.
• Overall, children are learning to be good communicators. Staff understand the importance of ensuring every child develops speaking skills appropriate to their age and ability. Children enjoy singing and listening to stories. They comment on what they see and hear as staff read to them. However, support for children's spoken skills is not yet fully effective, as some staff forget to build on children's speech as they play alongside them.
• Partnership with parents is clearly a strong aspect of this playgroup. Parents speak with warmth about the staff and the good progress their children make. Staff ensure that parents are kept informed regarding how their children are learning and how they can continue and build on this learning at home. Useful information is shared with parents, such as how to keep children safe online, as they recognise that more children have access to phones and tablets.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. The special educational needs coordinator works well alongside staff, children and their parents to ensure every child is able to make the best progress possible. Timely interventions are put in place, as well as any care plans needed. Staff working with children implement these plans well to ensure the needs of every child are met.
• Leaders are aware of the pressures on staff and ensure their welfare is considered. They have reduced the amount of information that staff have to record to be sure that this is not a burden on staff or takes their time away from the care of the children. Staff say they feel valued and supported in their roles by the leadership team through supervision and access to a range of appropriate training. Regular team meetings are offered to staff, where updates on current practice and changes in early years are discussed to help improve the provision of childcare.
• Staff ensure that children are able to develop good physical health. They talk to children about the importance of a healthy and balanced diet and work closely with parents to ensure the foods offered support children's good health. Children enjoy accessing the outdoor play space and show good coordination. Staff have identified that some children prefer being outdoors and learn better in this environment. However, access to the outdoors is quite regimented. As such, children's access to this area is not always well planned to meet their individual learning needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's confidence to embrace opportunities as they occur in children's play to further challenge and enhance children's learning and understanding
• help staff to use a wider range of strategies to support children's communication and language skills even further
• develop the provision for outdoor play to support children who learn better outdoors to have greater opportunities to do so.