Rahma Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children willingly separate from their parents on arrival and are greeted by the kind and caring staff. When children need reassurance staff are quick to respond. Overall, children settle quickly and demonstrate that they are comfortable in the setting. Staff know what children are interested in what they want them to learn next. However, they do not use this information well enough to plan or adapt activities that help all children to make good progress. At times, staff's interactions with children are not of high enough quality to ensure they are consistently and meaningfully involved in learning. That said, children enjoy building with plastic bricks and using art and craft equipment.

Children demonstrate positive relationships with staff and are beginning to form friendships with their peers. They play harmoniously alongside each other as they explore small-world resources. Staff encourage children to share and take turns with toy cars. Outdoors, children and staff demonstrate a shared sense of fun as they chase and try to catch bubbles. Staff offer lots of praise and encouragement and enthusiastically acknowledge children's achievements, contributing to their self-esteem. Children respond positively to staff's request to help tidy away toys before snack time.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders have taken steps to make some necessary improvements and address the safeguarding actions raised. The appropriate recruitment of qualified and experienced staff has begun to have a positive impact on the quality of the provision for children. All staff complete training to ensure that they have a secure knowledge and understanding of safeguarding procedures. Risk assessments are effective in helping staff to identify and manage risks to children.
• Overall, leaders and staff understand what they want children to learn next. They provide resources that they know children will enjoy playing with. Additionally, staff have made changes to the environment to enable children to access some of these independently. However, staff do not always plan activities well enough to ensure that children are offered an appropriate level of challenge. Consequently, children do not sustain their interest for long and are not consistently engaged in meaningful learning.
• Staff's interactions with children are, at times, positive. However, staff do not always pay enough attention to those children who need more support in their learning. At times, children are left to wander around without staff intervention. Additionally, there are occasions during activities when staff's interactions with children are over directive. Sometimes, staff do not adapt their teaching to meet the individual learning needs of all children. Consequently, not all children benefit from consistent and high-quality interactions to ensure they make the progress they are capable of.
• Children's well-being and physical development is appropriately supported by staff. Children enjoy daily access to the outdoor play space. They choose to ride bicycles, explore sand and practise their balancing skills. Children wash their hands before eating their snack of fruit and crackers and are offered a choice of water or milk to drink. Staff communicate with parents to ensure that they remain informed about children's individual routines and care needs.
• Staff talk to children as they play in both English and children's home language to help support their understanding and speaking skills. Staff introduce and repeat new words, such as juicy, when talking about the oranges at snack time. They regularly sing songs and rhymes. Staff have created a space where children can independently access books. However, staff are not proactive in encouraging children to explore and develop a love of books and stories. They do not routinely read to children to further support their communication and language skills.
• Staff gather some relevant information from parents when children first start. They engage in a two-way exchange of information on children's arrival and collection to help keep parents informed. Parents comment that they are satisfied with the care provided. Staff liase with other professionals to help them to implement appropriate strategies so that children receive the support they need.
• Staff invite children to explore different materials and take part in art and craft activities. They show children how they can use rolling pins to roll play dough. Staff encourage children to try for themselves and offer praise when they are successful. Staff ask children to name the colours of pom-poms that they have chosen to decorate a Christmas tree picture. Staff introduce some simple mathematical ideas as they describe how some pom-poms are bigger than others.