Play Pals Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a calm and engaging environment. They deploy themselves well across the nursery to support children in play and learning. Staff form strong bonds with children and get to know them extremely well. They have an in-depth understanding of their individual needs and how they learn best. This promotes children's well-being and helps them to feel happy and supported at nursery. Staff promote positive behaviour consistently and are good role models. They remind children about the nursery rules, such as 'no running inside' and instil good manners. Children follow instructions and non-verbal cues, such as the tidy up bell, automatically. They know what is expected of them at nursery and behave very well.

Communication and language development is a real strength at the nursery and runs seamlessly through the whole curriculum. Staff expose all children to a broad and ambitious range of vocabulary. They choose words from the book of the week, such as 'prune' and 'sow' and talk about what they mean. Staff put new words into sentences and link them to activities children are familiar with. This helps children to make connections in their learning and retain new information. All children make good progress in their development.

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

• The provider met their legal responsibility by notifying Ofsted of a significant event whereby a child was able to leave the nursery unsupervised. Leaders at the nursery have made changes to the policy and procedures for children being collected and retrained staff to prevent a reoccurrence.
• Leaders have a sound knowledge of how children learn and plan an ambitious curriculum that is focused on communication and literacy development. Leaders work closely with the host school to consider what is expected of children in reception. They use this information to shape their curriculum so that children are well prepared for school.
• Overall, staff implement the curriculum intentions well. They have a good understanding of what they want children to learn and how to teach it. However, when children are outdoors, the curriculum is not as precisely focused as it is indoors. Staff focus less on the learning intentions and interactions are more inconsistent. This does not help some children to build on their existing skills in the environment where they learn best.
• The procedures for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well embedded. Staff recognise when children need additional support and target their planning appropriately. They make timely referrals to outside agencies and use additional funding to help narrow gaps in learning. All children with SEND make progress from their unique starting points.
• Staff implement mathematics into activities that children enjoy, such as constructing towers with bricks. They encourage children to make towers of different heights and make comparisons between size. Staff extend learning further by using positional language and encouraging children to make predictions. This promotes children's mathematical development and builds their confidence with numbers.
• The curriculum for literacy development is well embedded. Staff read to children throughout the day and identify a book of the week. Children listen carefully when staff are reading and instantly fill in the missing words when staff pause. Staff ask children questions to promote their thinking skills and test out their understanding of the story. This helps them to explain in more detail when needed, to consolidate children's learning.
• Children demonstrate good levels of independence and a lovely attitude to learning. They wash their own hands, serve themselves from the salad bar and use cutlery independently. Children skilfully carry their own tray at lunch time, as this will be expected of them in reception. They are determined and persistent, even when some tasks, such as using a knife, are tricky. Children are developing some of the key skills needed for their move to school.
• Parents are happy with the quality of care provided. They are involved in children's learning from the start and provide staff with information about what they already know and can do. Staff keep parents up to date with information about children's progress and provide ideas of how learning can be extended at home. This two-way flow of information helps to provide continuity in children's learning.
• Staff are happy and feel supported in their roles. They access a range of training opportunities specific to the needs of children. Although supervision procedures are secure and staff receive some general feedback on their practice, this is not specific to their individual needs. Consequently, there are some inconsistencies in the quality of staff interactions across the team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• implement the curriculum more precisely in the outdoor area to support children's different learning preferences
• provide staff with specific feedback on their individual practice to create more consistency in the quality of interactions.