Ranwell Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children play happily and purposefully in this calm and well-organised playgroup. They interact positively with the small staff team who know the children well and enjoy working with them. Staff have high expectations of children, in both their learning and how they behave. Children treat others with respect and learn to take turns and share. Children confidently explore the environment and play well alongside and with their friends.

Children are familiar with the routines and respond well to instruction. They develop good self-care skills. They learn to wash their hands, brush their teeth and about healthy eating. This helps them to develop a positive attitude towards healthy lifestyles. Every child has their own peg on which to keep their things. They help to care for the toys in the playgroup by tidying up when they finish playing. This gives children a strong sense of belonging.

Children benefit from the playgroup's consistent and caring staff team. They form close and positive relationships with the adults who care for them and learn how to express their emotions. Children are well prepared when it is time to move on to the next stage in their learning, including starting school.

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

• Children have access to a wide range of good quality resources, both indoors and outdoors. Staff ensure that activities are well designed to support and develop individual children's interests. The manager and the team have created a curriculum around giving children access to a wealth of opportunities. For example they learn about other cultures, different types of families and explore the local area. Children are happy, confident individuals and well equipped for future learning.
• Shortly after the start of the session, children come together for songs and story time. Staff and children join in singing, playing musical instruments and doing actions alongside a range of familiar songs. Children enjoy this joyous start to the day and the focused reading time later in the session. They practise new words, use their recall skills and develop a love of stories. This introduces children to a range of books and supports early literacy.
• Children love to be outside where staff ensure that the high quality experiences indoors are replicated in the garden. Children play with sand, water and the messy mud kitchen. Staff are aware that many children do not have access to a private garden and opportunities for outdoor play at home. However, the playgroup is not making the best use of the space available to them, which means they miss the opportunity to fully extend children's mobility and physical development to the highest possible level.
• Staff use their observations of children at play to determine their next steps in learning. They plan the curriculum to help children reach their individual goals. This means they can tailor their approach to support children with special educational and needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. Staff share children's progress reports regularly with parents and liaise with external agencies when additional support is required.
• The playgroup is a calm environment which helps children to concentrate and get the most from their play session. Staff support children to become familiar with the daily routine. This supports children to settle and become familiar with the environment. Staff demonstrate the behaviour expected of the children they care for. They offer praise for sharing, turn-taking, kindness and helping. Children form good friendships with their peers, they use polite language and they play well together.
• Parents speak highly of the playgroup and the information they get from the team to support their children. Parents say the regular coffee mornings and opportunities to 'stay and learn' alongside their children have improved their understanding of childhood development. The manager organises trips with parents to introduce families to local parks and amenities. Parents say this has given them confidence to explore the local area more. Staff distribute a weekly newsletter and parents say the suggested activities to try at home are easy and fun. This helps support continuity for children in their learning.
• The manager supports individual members of the staff team to pursue opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge. All staff receive regular training and updates to maintain good practice. The manager leads regular team meetings where the staff contribute ideas and consider individual children's needs. This supportive environment has a positive impact on the team and means that staff are happy and motivated in their roles.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of the environment to provide further opportunities for children to extend their mobility and physical development to the highest level.