Safari Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and enjoy their time in the setting. Staff are positive in their interactions with children. They are polite and respectful to them and are good role models. They are responsive to the needs of the children, who seek them out if they need support or comfort. Children play well with each other and have formed friendships. They talk together during their play and share their thoughts and ideas.

Children are encouraged to cut up their fruit at snack time and pour their drinks. They put their coats on before going outside. The environment is set up so that children can engage in self-chosen play, both indoors and outdoors. As a result, children show good levels of independence and confidence.

Despite some of the team being new to the setting, they have a sound knowledge of children's current development levels. This allows them to plan appropriate next steps in children's learning that build on what they already know and can do. Staff adapt activities throughout the day to meet children's emerging needs. Effective procedures for tracking children's progress are in place. Gaps in children's development are recognised and acted on. Staff seek support from external agencies where appropriate. As a result, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.

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

• Leaders are reflective and have a clear and ambitious vision for the setting that is shared with the team. They welcome advice from their local authority advisers. They continually evaluate the quality of the provision and spend time modelling practice and offering suggestions to aid staff with their development. As a result, staff state they feel well supported and are offered relevant coaching and training to help them fulfil their roles.
• Staff provide a range of activities and experiences that children are eager to participate in and that link to their developmental needs. They engage with children during their play and teach them new skills, such as how to use stilts. They provide opportunities for children to explore concepts such as what happens when water is added to sand. However, some staff do not always identify times in children's play when they could extend their learning further. This means that children are not consistently provided with high levels of challenge.
• Children's language development is supported. Staff chat with the children as they play. They use language that is age-appropriate and introduce words such as 'divine' and 'malleable'. This helps children to develop their language skills. However, children are not always given enough time to think and respond to questions before the questions are repeated or the adult moves on. This does not consistently encourage children's communication skills.
• Staff provide activities that develop children's physical skills. They develop children's gross motor skills by encouraging them to play ball games and supporting them in using balance beams. Children's fine motor skills are promoted during activities where they use scissors to cut various materials that they thread through small holes, and they use spoons to scoop mud into containers in the mud kitchen.
• Staff encourage children to wash their hands at key times during the day and encourage them to cover their mouths as they cough. They change children's clothes if they get wet to ensure their comfort. In addition, they wipe children's noses when required. However, staff do not always wash their hands after wiping children's noses. This poses a risk of cross-infection and does not promote good hygiene.
• There is a strong partnership with parents. They speak positively about the setting and state their children have made progress since attending. Staff are aware of the needs of the individual families. This allows them to support children and families appropriately. For example, they signpost parents to external services when required and offer information and guidance about healthy eating and toileting. Leaders establish a two-way flow of information with other settings the children attend. This helps to establish a consistent approach to supporting children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the quality of staff interactions with children to challenge and extend their learning more effectively as they play
• build on staff questioning techniques to enable children to have more time to think, respond and verbalise their ideas and thoughts
• develop hygiene procedures in relation to handwashing after wiping children's noses to prevent cross-infection.