Seashells Early Years Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children's learning is well supported by the passionate staff team, enabling them to make the best possible progress in their development. Children form secure relationships with their key person, which helps them to feel safe and happy. Babies benefit greatly from the warm and caring interactions they receive from staff who effectively meet their care needs. For example, when they are tired, they cuddle up to their key person for reassurance. Children dance along to music with energy and enthusiasm as they copy the staff's actions. They smile happily and move their bodies in time to the music.

Children grow in confidence. They are eager to have a go at the activities available to them and invite visitors to join their play. They play imaginatively with dolls, rocking them in carry seats and pretending to pat them to sleep. Children behave well. They play cooperatively with their friends, sharing out toys and encouraging each other to have a go. For instance, they give each other beanbags and suggest which target they should aim for. When the beanbag lands on the target they are aiming at, children share their achievements proudly. Their friends and staff praise them, which creates a positive environment, building their self-esteem.

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

• Staff have created strong partnerships with parents. They include parents in children's learning by holding regular meetings with them to share children's progress and their next steps in learning. Parents value the communication they receive from the staff. They state their children 'love attending' and 'are always happy on a nursery day'.
• The provider, who is also the manager, has a good understanding of the needs of the families that attend. She ensures that any additional funding directly benefits the children. Staff engage in professional development opportunities to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. They speak positively of the support they receive from the manager.
• Staff provide excellent support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They find out as much information as possible about children when they join and accurately monitor children's progress. This helps them to swiftly identify when there are any concerns about a child's development. Staff ensure good relationships are made with other professionals involved in the care of children with SEND, and they follow their advice and guidance. As a result, children with SEND achieve well, and their needs are met.
• Staff effectively support children's developing communication and language skills. They interact with children during their play to help extend and broaden their vocabulary. Staff promote children's love of reading at home by providing parents with simple short stories to share together. They regularly read to children, repeating the same book each week, so that children become familiar and develop a good understanding of the story.
• Children access a wide range of resources and activities that are stimulating and engaging. For example, they use brushes to uncover numbers hidden under sand. Children demonstrate a very good understanding of numbers and counting. They recognise numerals with confidence. However, on occasion, staff do not adapt their teaching to enable each individual child to fully participate in the learning experience.
• Staff recognise each child as a unique individual. They plan activities based on children's interests and what children need to learn next. The manager has embedded an ambitious curriculum that focuses on every child achieving their full potential through a balance of adult- and child-led experiences covering all seven areas of learning. However, at times during free play, staff do not sit and interact with children to help them remain engaged in their learning.
• Children are encouraged to be independent. For example, when going out into the garden, staff ask children to have a go at putting on their own coats. During mealtimes, older children wait patiently for their friends to join them at the table. They demonstrate good manners during mealtimes which are positively reinforced by staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to adapt their teaching during activities to ensure that all children participating receive high-quality teaching and learning experiences
• improve staff deployment while children play in the toddler room to maximise children's engagement.