Playdays Opportunity Group

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm and nurturing environment where children feel happy and settled. Children openly show their delight as they greet their friends and staff on arrival. Staff are very attentive to children's needs. They sensitively promote children's feelings of self-worth and pride by showing a keen interest in the objects they bring in from home. This has a positive impact on children's personal, social and emotional development. Children build confidence and learn to solve problems for themselves. For example, when getting ready to go outside, they carefully search through a storage box to find matching boots. Children behave well in response to the high expectations set by staff.

Children are excited to explore the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Staff promote children's engagement and interest by joining in with activities. Children are motivated and show determination as they use tools to try to crack open dinosaur eggs made of ice. They watch with fascination as the ice melts and begins to form puddles in the tray. Staff know children well and are skilled at guiding them to explore experiences in their own individual way. This helps all children to make progress in their learning and development.

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

• Managers and staff demonstrate high levels of commitment and continually strive to improve the provision. They have worked hard to address the actions raised at the last inspection. Staff have focussed their attention on improving standards of teaching to enable all children to make good progress and reach their potential. They have attended training to improve their interactions with children and to ensure individual needs are met.
• Staff foster positive relationships with other professionals. They liaise with other early years settings children attend and share relevant information. This helps to support children and ensure their learning and development needs are met. Staff work closely with a wide range of services to enable children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to thrive and develop key skills before they start school.
• Children learn about the benefits of good health. They enjoy talking about healthy food, such as vegetables, and know they are good for their bodies. At snack time, they confidently chose from a variety of fresh fruit and commented, 'This is juicy' as they bit into an orange segment. Children are keen to show how well they brush their teeth after lunch. However, some children only attend morning sessions so do not take part in this activity. Therefore, they do not have the same opportunities at the setting to learn about the importance of good oral hygiene.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents comment how much children love coming to the setting and how well staff have helped them to settle. Parents value the regular opportunities children have to go outside and engage in physical play. Staff work positively with parents to share information about children's progress and offer guidance on activities that children can do at home to support their learning.
• Children enjoy sharing books with staff. They delight in turning the pages and using their developing language skills to talk about the illustrations. However, during group story times, children are not always supported effectively to engage with the story or to deepen their understanding through appropriate questions or discussion.
• Staff provide a meaningful curriculum that builds on children's previous learning and skills. Children are encouraged to explore the environment and are motivated to try new things. For example, children are interested to find out how their name cards are hung up on the display. Staff model how to pinch clothes pegs to open and close them. Children persevere and beam with delight when staff praise their achievements.
• Staff actively promote children's awareness of the local area and the wider world through a range of interesting activities. For example, children visit shops and learn to handle money as they pay for items. Organised visits help children to understand how different people in society help them. Children's sense of belonging is strengthened through the close links with the local community.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop further tooth-brushing routines, so all children have access to the same experiences to support their learning and development
• support staff to further develop storytelling skills so children can extend their engagement with books and contribute their ideas.