St Chad's Out of School Care

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The setting has worked hard and successfully to address the action points set out at the last inspection. Children experience an ambitious curriculum, which is well tailored to meet their individual needs. In the pre-school, staff are aware of the stage of development for each child in their care. They use this knowledge to plan children's next steps in their learning to help ensure they make progress.

Staff are alert to children's needs. They are quick to provide nurturing hugs and soothing words when children show they require comfort. Staff respond well to children's ideas and interests. For example, staff fully engage in children's play ideas, such as snuggling down under blankets and singing favourite lullabies. This helps children to learn that their voice is important and their ideas are valued and respected.

The setting takes pride in its relationship with families and the wider support it offers to the community. Families and children benefit from the extensive range of additional services. This includes financial, food and housing support, cookery courses and classes for parents. Parents describe the setting as inclusive and welcoming. They praise the care their children receive and acknowledge that staff are caring and approachable.

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

• Staff use their observations of children and information gathered from parents to plan for children's next steps in learning and development. The curriculum is then carefully sequenced for each child. For instance, staff identify that children are not yet ready for group story time. Instead, they focus on practising nursery rhymes. This builds on children's listening and attention skills in readiness for stories.
• The environment is carefully planned to meet the interests and developmental needs of children, both in the pre-school and the out-of-school club. For instance, in pre-school, children develop fine motor and observational skills as they practise pouring, mixing and scooping in a sensory tray. As a result of the careful planning, children are absorbed in their play in the pre-school and out-of-school club. This develops their concentration skills.
• The setting has a focus on supporting children in developing independence in order to prepare them for the transition to school. Parents emphasise how well staff have supported their children with toilet training.
• Staff are proactive in engaging with parents and other professionals when they have concerns about children's development. They are quick to ensure that strategies are put into place, both at the setting and at home, in order to provide consistent support for children who need additional support. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress, particularly in their communication and social skills.
• Familiar routines are used to support children to participate in activities such as handwashing and snack time. Occasionally, there are some lapses to this routine, which means that children can become unsettled. The setting can become noisy, as children are not as focused at these times. This includes when children wait longer than usual for their snack to be served.
• Leaders and managers have a clear oversight of the setting and ensure that there is focused support to ensure the setting continually improves. For example, plans are in place to create a new toilet area in the pre-school area to further support children's independence and personal care skills.
• Staff are provided with a wide range of training and support, including through supervisions. Staff say this has led to improvements to the quality of teaching in the setting. As a result, children are benefiting from increased progress in their development.
• Staff have a thorough knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and are fully aware of their role in relation to child protection. This helps to ensure that children are safe.
• Behaviour is well managed overall. However, staff have, rightly, identified that further training is needed in order to better support children's understanding of how to manage their feelings and behaviours, including sharing and turn taking. As such, plans for staff to take part in training on conflict resolution are already underway.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the consistency of the daily routines to better support children with transitions throughout the day
• build on children's understanding of how to manage their feelings and behaviour.