Rainbow Angels Nurseries & Learning Centres

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the setting happy and separate from their carers with ease. They are greeted in the garden by staff who know them well. As a result, children are confident and comfortable in the environment, and access the resources available to them.

Children enjoy playing outdoors and staff join them. Children follow instructions and learn new skills. Staff encourage them to move their bodies in different ways, for example by jumping, skipping and throwing. This supports children's gross motor skills. All children have the opportunity to take part in extracurricular activities such as football, tennis and ballet. Babies enjoy sensory experiences. They know that some of the books available to them contain different textures as they feel the pages with their fingertips. Babies join in with action songs and rhymes. For example, they hold farm animals and make sounds in excitement when staff sing the song 'Old MacDonald'. This supports their language and communication.

Children behave well and are familiar with the rules and routines. Staff support children to share and take turns with their peers. For example, they help children to solve minor conflicts and give them time and space to regulate their feelings. As a result, children are kind and caring to each other and learn to manage their own behaviour.

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

• Leaders and managers have a clear vision and show great passion to give children the best start in their learning. The leadership team is reflective and strives for improvement. Leaders recognise the importance of continual staff development and have provided regular training to enhance staff's skills. For example, staff recently attended training on caring for babies. As a result, they feel more confident and this has enabled them to support babies' development effectively.
• Children take part in educational visits, helping them to develop their knowledge of the wider community and the world around them. For example, they go on trips to the local park, farm and library.
• Staff expertly support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they use signs and communication boards to support children's communication and language. Staff work in partnership with parents and a range of outside agencies to ensure that the children receive tailored support to meet their needs. Together, they set individual targets and these are reviewed regularly to ensure that all children make good progress.
• Staff provide many opportunities to help promote children's communication and language skills, overall. They introduce new vocabulary and children use new words in play and exploration. For example, children name mini-beasts while exploring them with magnifying glasses. On occasion, staff do not always give children enough time to respond to questions. This does not help children to extend their language and engage in back-and-forth conversations.
• All children enjoy listening to stories and respond to what they see and hear. Staff use diverse resources to bring stories to life. For example, while reading 'Handa's Surprise', children explored the sounds of African drums and had a go at trying on traditional clothes. They remembered some of the names of the animals in the story. This supports children's early literacy skills.
• Staff plan exciting activities based on the children's interests and what they want children to learn next. However, occasionally, the learning intention is not clear. Staff move quickly from topic to topic and, sometimes, the key learning intention is lost.
• Children develop their independence and self-help skills as they help to pour their own drinks and serve themselves at snack time. Staff encourage children to help with setting the table for mealtimes. They help babies learn to walk by holding their hands and taking them on regular walks.
• Parents speak very highly of the setting and are extremely happy with the support they receive. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and are available to talk to at drop-off and pick-up times. There is a good level of communication between staff and the parents via online systems, parents' meetings and termly reports. Parents said that they felt confident to speak to the manager or director if they had any concerns and shared that the staff always respond quickly. They have received support from the staff with sleep, toilet training and bottle feeding.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's modelling of language and questioning techniques, to further extend children's thinking and communication skills, particularly for older children.
• strengthen the planning and implementation for some adult led activities, to further build on what children know and can do.