Skips

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are greeted by warm, friendly staff as they arrive at this setting. They separate easily from parents and carers and confidently explore the environment. Children happily play alongside and with their friends as they choose from the activities that staff have planned. They play cooperatively with each other and share and take turns with toys and resources. For example, older children play a card game, waiting patiently for their friends to take a turn before taking their own.

Staff have high expectations for children's learning and behaviour. They are positive role models and know the children well. Children show that they feel safe and secure. Staff give children lots of encouragement and praise. Children show a sense of pride in their achievements. For example, children playing with sand show delight and pride as they remove the bucket and see the sandcastle they have built and proudly show staff.

Staff provide children with ample opportunities to develop their physical skills. For example, children spend time in the garden and learn to ride bicycles and scooters. Children skilfully kick a football to each other as staff cheer them on. This helps to develop new skills and build on their existing ones.

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

• The management team has worked hard since the last inspection to ensure that all safeguarding procedures are followed. In particular, recent training has supported staff to feel more confident regarding reporting concerns to outside safeguarding agencies. Staff are happy and feel supported. They have regular supervision sessions and are given opportunities for training and to progress in their careers.
• Managers and staff plan an ambitious curriculum which is based on the learning needs and current interests of children that attend. The enthusiastic staff team implement the curriculum effectively across the pre-school. However, they have not yet considered how they can support children to have an understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using digital technology and the internet, and to recognise when they might be at risk.
• Staff encourage children to be independent. They teach children to put on their own coats and to use the nose wiping stations. Children follow simple instructions that are given by staff. For example, they help to tidy up toys before moving on to the next activity.
• Communication and language is promoted well. Staff help children to build sentences and introduce new words. They recognise how to support individual children. For example, staff observed that children with English as an additional language (EAL) were learning new words through singing. As a result, regular singing time is incorporated into the day and all children join in enthusiastically. Staff gather words from children's home languages. This ensures that children with EAL consistently hear and use familiar words from home.
• Children's personal, social, and emotional development is supported well. Staff support children to share and take turns. Children play independently, alongside and with each other. However, at times, children that struggle with socialising do not receive enough encouragement and support to help them interact with other children.
• Staff support children's understanding of the world. They provide new experiences for children. For example, the local fire brigade visited the setting and children spent time with the firefighters and learned about their job role.
• Children's mathematical development is supported well. Staff incorporate this area of development into activities. For example, children happily join in with a play dough activity. Staff encourage them to make worms. They use language such as small, medium, large, tiny, and ginormous. Children then use this language in their play.
• Parents report that their children are happy and excited to attend the setting. They comment on the regular communication they receive about their child's day and progress. Parents like the home learning bags that they can use at home with their children.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Staff work with other agencies to ensure early help and provide the support needed. Communication with parents provides consistency for the children. This means children with SEND make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop opportunities to support children's understanding of online safety
• consider the support and interactions children receive in order to further develop their social skills.