Purple Willows Clapham

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and managers have taken steps to improve since the last inspection. They have established a stable staff team, which has had a positive impact on relationships with children and parents. Staff have undertaken a range of training, including safeguarding, to improve their knowledge and understanding of their role.

Children arrive happy and settle quickly. Children are excited to see their friends and wave to greet them. Pre-school children are confident to talk about their lives. They develop good conversation skills as they chat with each other and staff. Babies enjoy rhymes and songs. They join in with the actions and move in time to the rhythms, which helps them develop control of their bodies.

Overall, staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They remind children to use 'gentle hands' and encourage them to take turns to pour their drinks at snack time.

The curriculum teaches children about the world around them and helps them develop the skills they will need for the next stage in their learning. Staff plan learning opportunities that help children build on what they can already do, which means all children make good progress.

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

• Leaders and managers support the staff team well. Staff have regular one-to-one meetings to discuss their practice and receive feedback, which they say helps them improve their practice. The deputy manager is a good role model and sensitively provides staff with guidance, when needed, throughout the day.
• All children have a key person who knows them well. They develop strong relationships with children from the start, which means children feel safe and secure. Parents know who their child's key person is and feel confident to talk to them about any concerns they have. They say staff are kind and caring and 'like family'.
• Staff use regular observation and assessment to identify children's next steps and ensure that all children make progress. Children have opportunities to learn about themselves and others. For example, staff provide skin tone paints as part of an 'all about me' topic so children can paint their family. Older children talk about their ethnicity and who is in their family, which helps them develop their sense of identity.
• Overall, children have positive attitudes to learning. Toddlers are curious to explore the sounds of musical instruments, and babies persevere to fill containers with bubbly water. However, at times, staff interrupt children's independent play and encourage them to engage in their planned ideas. This impacts on children's ability to develop their own ideas and thinking.
• Older children learn to manage their behaviour well. For example, they wait patiently to use a bicycle when playing outdoors. Occasionally, the organisation of daily routines, such as handwashing, means younger children have to wait too long. This results in them becoming unsettled and impacts on how they learn to manage their emotions at times. However, when this happens, staff quickly respond with cuddles and kind words to reassure and comfort children.
• Children learn to be independent. They learn to make choices, such as having milk or water to drink and which songs to sing. Staff teach them to safely use a knife to slice their own bananas and to wash their faces after lunch. Older children learn to put on their own coats and shoes, which helps to prepare them for starting school.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents receive regular communication about their children's progress, including a written summary of their children's attainment between the ages of two and three years. Parents say they feel extremely well supported and appreciate the tips staff share to further support children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide further opportunities for staff to develop their teaching skills so children have opportunities to become highly engaged in their play and develop their own ideas
• develop routines that support children's personal, social and emotional development and minimise waiting times.