S4yc @ Stanlaw Abbey

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and join in enthusiastically with activities. Staff provide high-quality activities that help all children to progress well in their learning and development. Children roll, pinch and shape dough. This helps to develop children's control and strength in their fingers, in preparation for early writing. Children practise balancing on beams. They enjoy running and splashing in puddles with their friends. Toddlers laugh with staff as they pop bubbles. These activities help children to develop coordination and spatial awareness.

Children behave well. Staff are good role models and teach children how to behave. Children learn to share and are kind to their friends. For example, toddlers happily take toys to their friends.

The manager is aware of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's personal and social skills. She has adapted the settling-in arrangements to better meet the needs of each child and their family. The manager and staff have managed recent staffing changes well. Staff have made sure that the babies they look after continue to feel safe and happy. As children arrive, they receive a warm and positive welcome from staff. This is helping children to settle well and form strong attachments with staff.

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

• The manager supports staff to promote children's mathematical knowledge and skills. Children develop their understanding of numbers. They count their steps as they tackle an obstacle course. Staff introduce new words to support children's understanding of volume, such as 'full' and 'empty'. This helps children get off to a good start in mathematics.
• Staff help children learn new words. Younger children enthusiastically join in with songs and rhymes. However, at times staff do not pronounce words correctly. This means that children do not benefit as well as they should from interactions with staff.
• Children enjoy listening to the stories that the staff read with them. Children will often choose books to look at by themselves. This helps children to develop a love of reading.
• Staff help children to develop their independence skills. Children learn to wash their hands before eating. Staff encourage children to put on their coats and boots by themselves. This helps children take more responsibility for themselves.
• Staff teach children how to look after themselves. For example, they warn their friends that the oven is hot as they pretend to make cakes. Children can explain the need to brush their teeth with toothpaste and water to keep them clean. Children learn to keep themselves safe and healthy.
• Staff teach children about their feelings and how to manage them. Children learn to recognise facial expressions and emotions, such as surprise. This helps children learn to understand their own feelings and those of others.
• The manager supports staff well. She is considerate of staff well-being and workload, for example reducing the amount of unnecessary paperwork. However, staff are not always deployed consistently well at toddler mealtimes and during adult-led activities. This limits the opportunities for staff to support children's learning and development.
• Parents comment on how supportive staff are and there is good communication between parents and staff. Staff provide parents with frequent updates about their child's progress. They provide advice and support to parents for different aspects of children's care and development, including toilet training and language development.
• Additional funding is thoughtfully spent to ensure it makes the intended difference to support individual children, including those with special educational needs/and or disabilities. Staff use a variety of ways, including visual aids, to support children who speak English as an additional language. All children are supported well to develop their communication and understanding.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff use the correct pronunciation of words to help children further develop their language and speaking skills
• review the deployment of staff to ensure their interactions supports children's learning consistently.