St Gabriel's Early Years Group

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled, happy and well cared for at this warm and welcoming provision. They form positive attachments with kind and caring staff. Overall, when children arrive, they quickly settle into activities with their key person. Staff read stories to children in small groups to help children develop a love of books. They encourage children to join in with action songs to develop their communication and language skills. Children behave well. They enjoy helping each other and are proud when staff praise them for their achievements. Staff listen to and respond to children's individual needs and wishes. This helps to develop children's self-esteem.

Children are active learners. They have frequent opportunities to play outdoors to help develop their physical skills. Children enjoy riding on bicycles and clambering up climbing equipment. Staff encourage children to develop independence and self-care skills. Children wipe their own noses and place the tissues in the bin. Children use the toilet independently and learn to use cutlery well. They develop good social skills as they enjoy a hot lunch at the on-site school. Children collect their own meals from the kitchen counter and carry them back to their table. Staff and teachers join children as they eat. They all talk together happily and create a friendly, conversational atmosphere.

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

• When children first join, staff speak to parents and gather some information about children's preferences and interests. However, staff do not gain detailed learning information from parents about what their child already knows and can do. This means staff do not plan as precisely as possible for children's learning from the outset.
• Overall, staff nurture children to help them develop positive relations and settle in well. Staff are positive role models and take time to talk to children and to join them as they play. Children soon learn to follow the rules and routines of the setting. However, strategies to help children who speak English as an additional language become familiar with the setting, are not as embedded in practice. These children do not settle as quickly.
• The manager works closely with teachers at the on-site local school to implement a curriculum which can be built on as children move on to school. Staff develop positive working relationships with teachers at the school and the early years teacher from the school visits children daily. This helps children to develop positive relationships with their future teachers and helps to ease transition when the time comes for children to take the next step in their education.
• Staff provide children with a wealth of activities to support all areas of learning. Children use an interactive whiteboard to draw pictures of their family. They talk about their feelings as they draw. This helps children to develop early writing skills and enhances their emotional development. Staff develop natural areas within the setting. They set out a variety of different materials for children to explore, including conkers, leaves and stones. This helps children to gain some understanding of the world around them.
• The manager ensures that all staff complete mandatory training. Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings. The manager identifies any additional professional development needs and provides time and support for staff to undertake training. This supports staff well-being and improves outcomes for children.
• Staff promote equality and diversity well. For example, children talk to staff about long and short hair. Staff spend some time in conversation with children about hairstyles. They explain how both boys and girls can have long or short hair. This helps to develop children's knowledge and understanding about similarities and differences. Children learn to respect individual choice.
• Staff encourage children to recall knowledge they have gained from their previous learning experiences to reinforce their learning. For example, staff ask children questions about a walk they went on during the previous day. Children remember the walk and staff build on children's vocabulary through their discussions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance partnership working with parents to gain more information in relation to children's individual starting points, to plan more effectively for children's learning from the outset
• develop strategies to further support children who speak English as an additional language when they first start attending, to help them to settle quickly and to further enhance their emotional well-being.