Sedgley Kids Club @ Coseley Youth Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at pre-school happy and ready to engage in a range of activities. Staff are kind, caring and nurturing. Their calming influence on children helps them to settle quickly and to feel confident in their surroundings. Children's safety is given high regard and staff prioritise offering a safe environment for children to play and explore in. Staff are excellent role models. They show respect for children and this helps them to become respectful of others. Older children are incredibly caring and show empathy for the youngest children. For example, they help younger children to tidy up and invite them into their games. Children are confident to move around the setting with ease and make choices in their play.

The manager and staff know the demographic area really well. They get to know the families and experiences children receive prior to starting. Staff plan a range of interesting and challenging activities to build on children's prior skills and experiences. The curriculum is ambitious for all children and there is a strong focus on developing children's communication and language. This is threaded throughout the curriculum. As a result, children's language develops rapidly. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive targeted intervention. Staff support children to self-regulate and help them to integrate from one-to-one sessions into group sessions. The helps all children to make swift progress.

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

• The provider, who is also the manager, has a strong oversight of the pre-school. She knows the children and families incredibly well and is passionate about providing every child with the best start in their education. The manager focuses on sustaining a long-standing team that works very well together. She supports staff well-being and offers advice and guidance to ensure that they implement a curriculum that is tailored to meet the needs of all children.
• Staff benefit from completing some training and receive support from the manager. The manager observes staff practice and provides feedback to help develop their confidence. However, professional development opportunities are not consistently focused on helping to raise staff practice to the highest level.
• Staff observe children and assess their development. They provide activities that children show a real interest in. For example, staff introduce planting seeds. They talk to children about how seeds grow, and children are eager to plant their own. Staff adapt activities to meet the development needs of each child. They allow children to explore at their own rate and, as a result, children remain engaged. They develop their own ideas and are eager to recall what they know.
• Children's health is promoted. There are appropriate nappy changing procedures in place and children are encouraged to wash and dry their hands after going to the toilet and before eating. Children bring in their own packed lunches and staff work hard with parents to encourage healthy packed lunches.
• Children have daily opportunities for outdoor play. They love playing outside together and staff provide a range of opportunities for them to develop their physical skills. Children enjoy playing imaginative games and exploring worms. They delight in watching and popping bubbles and engage in sand and water activities. Staff interact well with them to extend the learning taking place.
• There is a buzz of chatter between staff and children and staff model and repeat words to extend children's vocabulary. Staff swiftly recognise children with communication delays. They use effective strategies and assessment tools to track progress. The interventions that have been implemented to support language can clearly be seen in the progress children make. Staff engage children in stories, songs and rhymes to aid their development.
• Children show a positive attitude to learning. Staff help them to overcome frustrations. Consequently, children learn to self-regulate, manage their emotions and persevere at tasks. Children show a good understanding of expectations and boundaries. Older children act as positive role models for the younger children.
• Parents' views are extremely positive. They say that their children are happy here and make great progress. Parents know who their child's key person is. They receive daily communication about how their child has been and what they have enjoyed doing. Parents talk about stay-and-play sessions where they get to look at their children's progress books. However, staff do not consistently share information about children's next steps in their learning, to help support learning at home.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and other professionals to make timely referrals. They use funding to provide one-to-one and small-group sessions. They offer intense support for children with SEND to close gaps in their learning. They place a strong focus on helping children to transition to school when the time comes.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider how to share more detailed information with parents about their children's next steps in learning, to further support children's learning at home
• focus professional development opportunities more precisely to raise the quality of teaching practice to the highest level.