Side By Side Creche

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children and parents warmly as they arrive. They are aware of the additional support some children need to help them settle and are very reassuring. Children respond well, showing they are settled and secure.

Staff provide a curriculum that supports children in making choices in their play. Children are learning to play alongside each other and developing their social skills with their friends. This supports all children's learning and development, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff plan the resources indoors and outdoors with interesting creative play included. A range of visuals and books are included for children to choose and learn about communication. Children have opportunities to enhance their sensory skills by exploring a range of different natural materials, including heuristic play. This is well planned to support babies and toddlers to problem-solve, experiment and explore.

Staff teach children to be physically active as they benefit from free-flow play between the indoor and outdoor areas. Children thoroughly enjoy this as they negotiate the balancing-blocks circuit with confidence. Children also have access to the sensory and soft playrooms within the school to enjoy and further extend their skills. Children are enthusiastic as staff encourage their independence skills. They help children put on their coats and shoes and talk to them while including them. This is so that children understand that they need to put them on to keep warm outside. Babies and toddlers demonstrate good listening and attention skills and can follow simple instructions.

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

• Leaders and staff work closely with local authority advisers. They are proactive in following any guidance given, including for adapting the environment to make this both safe and enabling for babies and toddlers in one group room. They have recently made changes to sleeping arrangements. They now have a separate room for children when they are sleeping, and staff follow safe procedures for monitoring and checking sleeping babies.
• Staff encourage babies to develop their early walking skills. They have strategically placed low-level furniture inside and wooden resources outside for babies to pull themselves up on to develop their balance. All children enjoy climbing on the wooden blocks as they negotiate the space with confidence.
• Staff are aware of children's next steps and any gaps in learning. The special educational needs coordinator and staff and parents work closely with each other. This includes other professionals for support and guidance when required. Staff plan to build on what children already know and can do. They adapt activities to enable children to take part. However, on occasion, staff do not offer children further challenge to extend their learning. At times, some children are not as engaged as much as they could be during group and free-flow activities with less staff interaction.
• Staff implement appropriate hygiene routines, and the environment is extremely well maintained. Children benefit from nutritious snacks and meals provided by their parents, and they have independent access to water throughout the day.
• Staff benefit from supervision meetings with managers to identify areas for development. In addition, leaders observe and evaluate teaching to identify further professional development focuses. This includes supporting staff with regular reviews of how child supervision and risk assessments are managed to ensure children's safety. However, these processes could be strengthened to support all staff to consistently extend the quality of their interactions to the highest possible level.
• Staff report that they feel valued and supported at this small and nurturing setting. They say that they receive regular opportunities to discuss their health and well-being and training needs. Most recently, all staff have received training on providing heuristic play for children. Staff are enthusiastic and keen to share their knowledge with other practitioners in the community.
• Managers and staff update their safeguarding and child protection knowledge regularly. Leaders review staff confidence in how to contact the local authority designated officer if they have concerns about another adult or of the safety or well-being of a child. Risk assessments include that staff know the procedures to follow if a child has an accident and/or incident in the nursery. They keep appropriate records and encourage parents to be proactive about communicating to staff if their child requires medication.
• Parents speak positively about the support they receive from staff. They say that staff share regular updates about their children's well-being. This includes information to plan a range of activities that reflect children's individual interests and areas of development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen individual coaching and supervision processes to further enhance effective information sharing and arrangements for providing staff with feedback on their practice to ensure consistency across the whole team
• continue to develop interactions with children during group activities and spontaneous play to provide children with further challenge and to help all children remain more focused and engaged in their learning.