Sarah's Ark Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive excited, enthusiastic and eager to learn. They are greeted by happy and welcoming staff and leave their parents with ease. Children settle very quickly within the child-friendly and inviting environment. They display lots of confidence as they engage in activities of their choice. Children delight in story time. They sit comfortably and listen with intent. Staff have established close bonds with the children and know them well. Children communicate their needs, and staff are very attentive. Staff support children to recognise and name their emotions and those of others. Children have opportunities to talk about how they are feeling at group times. Less confident children are encouraged to give a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Children demonstrate a positive attitude towards their learning. They are polite, and their behaviour is very good. Children show kindness and concern for one another. They learn to share and negotiate when taking turns. For example, pre-school children are thoroughly engaged as they work together to turn over logs to find minibeasts. They look carefully at the minibeasts they have found while sharing the magnifying glasses. Children are well prepared for the next stage in their learning, including school.

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

• The manager and her staff work well as a team, drawing on each other's strengths. Staff have access to a range of professional development opportunities. However, their professional development does not always focus on supporting children's learning and development, As a result, staff do not consistently extend children's learning.
• Staff work closely with parents right from the start to assess and plan how to meet children's individual needs. This works particularly well for children who have significant health or medical needs. The manager and staff seek information from parents to help them establish specific care plans for their children. This means children's health and well-being are prioritised.
• The management team has high expectations of all children. Children make good progress in their learning and development from their starting points. The quality of the curriculum is well planned and sequenced. However, staff sometimes plan activities that are not focused enough on what they want children to learn. This means that, at times, some children are not able to achieve the identified learning intentions.
• Overall, staff interactions during play help to promote children's communication and language skills. They enhance older children's experiences by introducing new words and asking open-ended questions. In the rooms for younger children, staff sing songs and rhymes with the children. They also introduce single words as children play. However, staff who work with younger children do not always promote language development as well as possible. This means that children are not always able to hear a rich variety of vocabulary, to help support their developing communication and language skills even further.
• Staff promote children's early mathematics skills effectively. They provide children with opportunities to explore and write numbers. Staff also help children to count and use mathematical language, such as 'larger' and 'smaller'. Consequently, children are gaining a positive attitude and interest in early mathematics.
• Children are learning the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. For example, they access the outdoors daily to be active and gain some fresh air. Staff discuss healthy eating choices at mealtimes, and children enjoy brushing model teeth with real toothpaste and brushes. Staff also explain the importance of reaching all areas of the teeth, to further support their oral hygiene.
• The manager and staff are very reflective. They use evaluation effectively to make improvements to the nursery provision. For example, staff have recently made changes to the lunchtime routines to enhance the experience for the children.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents informed about their child's development through various methods, including regular parents' evenings and daily feedback. This helps to promote the continuity of care, learning and development. Parents comment positively about the nursery and staff. They say that 'staff build great relationships with children'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance targeted professional development opportunities for staff, to further support children's learning
• support staff to plan activities that are sharply focused on what they want children to learn
• support staff to make the most of their interactions with younger children, to progress their speech and language skills further.