St John's Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe and happy. They enjoy their time in this warm and inviting playgroup. Children move freely between the different areas of the playgroup and decide what they would like to play with. This promotes children's independence and self-choice. Children show high levels of engagement and focus. They have access to a wide range of stimulating and challenging experiences that have been carefully planned to help them to make progress.

Children have secure attachments with staff, who are cheerful, kind and nurturing. Staff have high expectations for children's learning and are good role models. They interact positively with children and engage them in conversations about their home lives and experiences. Children confidently chat about their weekend. They describe the sounds and colours of the fireworks, which they saw with their families.

Children are well behaved and polite. Staff help children to understand what is expected of them at playgroup with gentle reminders to use 'kind hands'. As a result, children are considerate and enjoy helping each other. For example, children help their friends to put aprons on ready to play in the water or do a painting.

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

• Staff plan a curriculum which is ambitious and well sequenced. They provide activities and experiences that are based on what children are interested in and their learning needs. Staff help children to develop their skills and knowledge across all areas of their learning.
• Staff carefully observe children and assess their learning and development. They identify any gaps in children's learning and put support in place to close these swiftly. For example, staff have identified that mathematics is an area where children need more support. The strong focus on mathematics is evident through the wide range of activities on offer and staff's interactions. For instance, children explore concepts such as counting, shape, size and measure as they play.
• Children's communication and language development is promoted well. Children enjoy listening to stories and show a love of books, songs and rhymes. Staff are animated as they read stories and enthusiastically change their voices as they pretend to be different characters. This helps to maintain children's focus and engagement.
• Staff follow children's lead during play and extend their learning though conversations and discussions. However, at times, staff used closed questions, which do not consistently allow children to fully explore and develop their thinking skills.
• Children have access to a well-planned outdoor area, which they can access freely every day. Children develop their physical skills as they ride bikes and scooters and balance on different-sized logs. Staff help children to learn about safety as they discuss what happens to the logs when they are wet.
• Children's independence and self-help skills are promoted well. Children wash their hands independently before they eat. They help themselves to fruit at snack time and pour their own water or milk to drink. At times, the organisation of routine activities, such as snack, impact on children's play and learning. For example, staff interrupt children's self-chosen play. This affects their focus and attention.
• Staff collaborate well with other professionals and parents to support children's next steps in learning. They support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well and make sure they receive the help that they need.
• Children's transitions on to school are seamless. Staff have good relationships with the local school and class teachers. They organise for teachers to visit the setting regularly to meet children. This helps to prepare children for their move on to school.
• Parents are happy with the playgroup and say that their children benefit from attending. They praise the friendly and cheerful staff and state that they know their children very well. Parents say that staff share what is happening in the setting with them verbally at the end of each session.
• The manager works closely with staff and monitors their practice well. She completes regular observations and supervision sessions to help staff to develop their practice. Staff attend regular training, which helps them keep knowledge up to date.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the use of questions to support children's thinking and learning further
• review the organisation of routine activities to maximise children's play and learning.