Sunbeams Playgroup Ltd

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and practitioners assess children's individual needs effectively, working closely in partnership with parents. This helps them identify and reduce barriers that children may face. For example, they use the 2-year review to focus on the support children need next. However, at times, staff do not use the assessment they have gathered well enough to inform their teaching. Occasionally, the activities staff choose for some children who need additional support are not always well matched to help them gain the knowledge and skills they need to learn first.

Leaders demonstrate secure knowledge and skills in brokering additional support for children who require tailored interventions. Leaders make referrals to external agencies and liaise with the local authority inclusion team to provide targeted support. Although leaders sometimes face barriers in securing external support for children, they ensure that children continue to make progress towards their milestones. Leaders take their responsibilities seriously and work alongside staff to ensure that children receive the support they need. Staff collaborate closely with parents and other professionals, typically implement personalised strategies and review these regularly to maintain their effectiveness.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders adopt a curriculum that sequences the knowledge and skills children need to learn and experience to help them succeed in life. This is delivered through secure routines that support children's learning and development. Staff focus on communication and language at the beginning of each session. This helps children develop their vocabulary, understanding and speaking skills. For example, children sit together as a group to share news, sing nursery rhymes and learn poetry. Children are familiar with these rhymes and enjoy joining in with repetition and actions.

Staff teach mathematics explicitly and focus on experiences that promote children's confidence and enjoyment of mathematics. For example, children play games that help them develop their understanding of number. They enthusiastically take turns to roll the dice, count the spots and move their counters to the corresponding number on the board. This helps children make progress from their individual starting points.

Staff use assessment well to identify barriers in children's learning and development. Staff typically present information clearly and model language to support children's understanding. Occasionally, staff do not use the assessment they have gathered to tailor their teaching to what children need to know and do next. This sometimes impacts on the progress children are capable of.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children learn and develop well. They grow to feel confident and ready as they move on to the next stage in their learning. Children build the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in new settings. They benefit from communication-rich group times, familiar nursery rhymes and the use of signs to help strengthen their understanding and speaking skills. For example, children share books independently and read to each other to develop their literacy skills.

Children learn to be independent and become motivated learners. They develop important self-care skills, such as washing and drying their own hands and using the toilet. Consequently, they make good progress in managing their own personal hygiene routines.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders and staff set high expectations for children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. Expectations are clearly communicated and commonly understood by staff, parents and children. These expectations are applied consistently and fairly, creating a positive and inclusive environment. Children know their routines well. When the bell rings for each transition, children stop, wiggle their fingers and listen for the next instruction. They eagerly look forward to the next part of their day. For example, when it is time to tidy up, children work together to pack away their chosen activity and get ready for lunch.

Children typically build warm, trusting and respectful relationships with their key person. This supports their confidence and emotional security. Children are encouraged to play and learn collaboratively and generally get along well with others. Staff model kindness, care and respect and provide explicit praise to reinforce positive behaviour. For example, during bat and ball games, staff model taking it in turns in a small group. They praise children for waiting patiently. This reinforces children's motivation to cooperate and practise their regulation skills, as they patiently wait for their turn.

Leaders promote the importance of good attendance and punctuality with families. This helps children's engagement and participation.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Leaders do not consider children's welfare and wellbeing well enough. For example, staff do not have a robust procedure to accommodate sleeping children. This means that when children rest they do this in the play areas, without appropriate sleeping equipment and clean bedding. In addition, this means staff do not teach children about the importance of rest and sleep.

Children are well supervised during lunchtime. However, this is not the case for all mealtimes. Occasionally, children are left unattended at the snack table and sometimes eat on their own. This impacts on children's safety. Leaders arrange snack time in a way that promotes children's independence, and children can access their snack during a window of time. Children do learn to serve themselves and tidy their own snack away. However, not all children access the snack table, and some children do not benefit from the high-quality interactions with staff that promote communication and language. This means mealtimes are not delivered consistently, which impacts some children's learning and development.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Staff report that leaders support them well and help them manage their workload and wellbeing. Leaders do this through regular wellbeing checks and a friendly, open approach that fosters teamwork. Staff access regular supervisions and training to support them in their learning and development. This helps them understand the curriculum well and have a secure understanding of child development. Where teaching is not consistent, leaders identify this and ensure that staff get the support they need to professionally develop.

Leaders do monitor the quality of the provision. However, they have not identified some weaknesses in meeting children's welfare needs. That said, leaders work with other settings and organisations to develop their early years practice. For example, they work with local schools and organise online, and in-person, training to support the ongoing improvement of the setting.