Poppyfields Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their parents are warmly greeted by the caring staff team. Children are happy and enthusiastically engage in activities as they arrive at nursery. Staff get to know the children very well and find out about their interests. For example, children are interested in pirates. Staff plan opportunities for children to explore resources, such as maps, compasses, jewels and dressing-up clothes. Children wear the pirate costumes and say that their name is 'Blackbeard'. They engage in creative, imaginative play with their friends.

Children behave well in this nursery. Staff respond promptly to any unkind behaviour. For example, they encourage discussions about feelings and skilfully distract children to divert their attention. For example, when a child gets upset in the sandpit, a staff member addresses the problem and then involves children in a treasure hunt in the sand.

Children learn self-help skills that promote their independence because staff have high expectations of what children can do for themselves. Children get the table ready for mealtimes with glasses, crockery, cutlery and napkins. Children have good manners and say how they do not put their elbows on the table.

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

• The manager and staff provide a rich and varied curriculum that builds on children's interests. For instance, the staff help children to develop a sense of responsibility and how to care for animals. Children enjoy cleaning and feeding their giant African land snail. Children know that the snail's favourite food is cucumber and that it is feeling happy because they are looking after it.
• Staff use their observations and assessments of children's achievements to plan well for their learning. However, they do not recognise all opportunities that arise to adapt their teaching to fully extend children's knowledge and build on what they already know and can do.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff create individual plans for children and support families with strategies to encourage children's development at home. The manager works with families to apply for education, health and care plans, and to signpost families to other agencies for additional support. The manager uses additional funding appropriately to enrich children's experiences.
• Children learn about living healthy lifestyles. They eat healthy snacks and drink milk or water at mealtimes. Children bring well-balanced packed lunches from home. Children know that they must collect a pot from a basket to pour some of their crisps into. This helps to teach children about portion control. Children take part in physical activities. They balance carefully on tyres as they walk over them and ride on tricycles. Children learn to take turns on this equipment and use a sand timer to help them to know when it is their turn.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They are invited into the nursery weekly to choose books with their child in the library. This encourages a love of books as they share stories at home. The manager takes account of parents' views through a questionnaire. Following a parent's request for more discussion about their child's development, staff now offer a weekly drop in for parents to meet with their child's key person. This helps parents to find out what staff are doing to support their children. They say how they feel cared for as parents.
• The manager has good supervision systems in place. She offers staff additional training to enhance their understanding of child development. For example, all staff have training about how children learn in different ways. As a team, the staff and manager discuss what is working well and evaluate areas for improvement. For instance, they make changes to the layout of the room to encourage better engagement from children. This has also had a positive impact on children's communication and language development.
• The manager and staff offer a nurturing settling-in process. They visit the children in their home and build initial relationships with the child and their family. The effective key-person system is designed so that children are linked to the person that they develop secure attachments to. This helps to support children's emotional well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support the staff to recognise when they need to adapt their teaching so they can maximise opportunities to extend children's play and learning.