Rainbow Childcare & Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This pre-school nursery is dedicated to preparing children to be confident, independent, well-behaved learners by the time they move on to school. Children are encouraged to explore the wonderfully equipped inside and outside spaces. The provider's ethos is to organise the play environment with lots of real-life and natural materials which children can use in a variety of ways. For example, children enjoy being creative and making marks using flowers to apply paint to paper. Children who enjoy playing and learning outside are provided with a broad, exciting curriculum. The inviting outdoor play space has ample covered areas, so play is not stopped by heavy rain.

Parents still drop their children off at the front door as they did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they are now able to come into the nursery at other times, for example, for stay-and-play sessions. This gives them a further insight into their children's learning. Children are encouraged to learn how to safely manage calculated risks. For example, some use a small wooden ladder to successfully reach higher up the fence when painting with brushes and water. Children are confident and happy; they are able to work as a team and have strong friendships.

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

• The passion of the provider and the manager is evident. They are strong role models for the staff, and their drive to have a provision which is moving towards excellence is obvious. They have a range of processes in place to support staff to develop their understanding of the ethos of the nursery and what they expect of them. They have plans for future training but very little training has been undertaken recently due to the disruption caused by COVID-19. Staff are very keen to plan interesting and exciting activities. However, the manager recognises that they need to further develop their teaching skills and confidence in delivering the planned curriculum.
• Children's physical skills are very well developed. The staff encourage children to strengthen their muscles as they, for example, learn to hold large containers and pour water, make big shapes with paintbrushes or use the climbing equipment. Staff know this helps children to develop the ability to progress onto making finer movements and eventually making marks and the start of early writing.
• Staff encourage children to develop a love of books. Inviting reading areas encourage children to look at books and 'read' to their friends. Staff schedule in one-to-one reading times with each child during the week. Children are encouraged to take books home and read with their parents. For children who speak English as an additional language, books in their home language are used at home and the English equivalent is used at nursery. This helps to value the children's home language and builds a connection between this and English.
• Staff organise group times which are well-ordered, constructive learning experiences. The activities take account of children's ages and stages of development. For example, for younger children, rhyme times build their memory of popular songs, new words and information, while older children learn a new song that they will perform at their leavers event and practice letter formation. However, some aspects are less well sequenced. This means children do not always have the skills they need. For example, all younger children are asked to recognise their names from very small labels, even when some do not yet recognise the starting letter of their name. There are also activities teaching how letters are written, where some children's misconceptions about how letters are formed are left uncorrected.
• Children and staff understand the clear routines and behaviour expectations of the setting. The atmosphere is calm and industrious. Staff plan activities which they hope are seen as 'awesome' by the children. These activities encourage children to have enquiring minds and to experiment. Most children are highly motivated and keen to take part. Some concentrate for considerable amounts of time. There are occasions where staff do not use these activities and other interactions with children to further expand children's vocabulary.
• Children are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They have many opportunities to learn about others who may be different from them, due to religion, country of origin or age. The provider also wants to ensure children are introduced to new ideas and concepts. This is sometimes achieved by visits off site, for example, to the local residential home for the elderly, or using public transport to visit museums to look at the artefacts.
• Partnership with parents is very strong. Parents are very happy with the service and speak warmly about the provider and the manager. They really like the small, friendly, family atmosphere and the flexibility of the setting. There is a good level of communication between staff and the parents via online systems, parents' meetings and stay-and-play sessions. Parents believe their children's good progress is directly attributable to their attendance at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the professional development of staff, ensuring that it is focused on individual staff's needs and drives teaching skills towards excellence.