Sunlands Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the setting to gentle voices, friendly comfort and soft lighting. This ensures that there is a relaxed and calm atmosphere, which supports children's emotional well-being and helps them to feel safe and secure. Staff form strong attachments with children, which promotes their well-being and independence. Children are highly valued as individuals at this setting.

The setting's curriculum provides children with a rich and diverse range of learning experiences that follow the changing rhythms of the seasons. Children demonstrate that they know and understand about seasonal change in nature. For example, children grow their own fruit and vegetables and take part in daily cooking activities. As they dig in the garden, they explain, 'We must remove the weeds to let the vegetables grow.' They learn about all aspects of cooking, including kitchen safety, healthy eating and tidying up. Children join staff as they enter the setting and immediately immerse themselves in a cooking task. They combine and rub ingredients together, strengthening their finger muscles, to make an apple crumble. Staff explain they need to have the right consistency to make the best crumble. Later, the children, staff and visitors sit together and share the food they have made. Children remember what ingredients they have used: 'a dash of cinnamon, some oats, flour, butter and just a tiny bit of sugar', as they carefully pass around bowls of food.

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

• Children behave well. They remember to say 'please' and 'thank you', and staff are good role models for being kind, respectful and gentle with each other. However, when children occasionally forget to follow rules, for example running inside or chasing the chickens, staff call out to the children but do not explain why they should listen or stop. This means children do not always understand the consequences of their actions.
• The setting aims to connect children with the world around them. Children learn about different faiths, cultures and festivals from around the world, for example celebrating Michaelmas, by baking dragon bread and welcoming the beginning of autumn. They learn about Diwali and the festival of light, and staff teach children about the colder, darker evenings drawing in through the lantern festival. These festivals and celebrations form part of the curriculum planning to help children gain a greater awareness of the world around them.
• Children are beginning to talk about themselves in a positive way and recognise many of the similarities and differences that exist between them. However, staff do not always name feelings and emotions when children are playing. This means children are not always supported to gain the vocabulary to express how they feel.
• Staff use storytelling to inspire creativity and imagination. Children sit and listen avidly as the story unfolds. Staff use scarves, shells and puppets to ignite their curiosity. Quieter children have time to make their meaning clear and develop the confidence to speak in a large group. Staff and children frequently gather to sing. This expands their vocabulary and teaches them about creative language and rhyme. Staff are very effective at supporting children's communication and language development.
• Staff are reflective of their practice and are constantly looking at what is going well and discuss areas for improvement to benefit the children. Weekly team meetings provide staff with opportunities to identify any areas for development they may want to work on and discuss their well-being. During these meetings, staff discuss individual children's learning and ensure that they have a clear understanding of the learning intentions in their curriculum.
• There are very strong partnerships with parents at this setting. Staff collect detailed information about children's learning from parents prior to children starting and during their time at the setting. Children's development is regularly shared with parents along with next steps in learning. Parents are fully involved in their child's learning. Parents are highly complimentary about this setting.
• Following observation and discussion, staff have adapted the daily routine and rhythm of the day in response to children's physical and emotional needs. Children spend a considerable part of their day outdoors in the fresh air, where they develop their social and physical skills. Staff present physical challenges to all children to promote their large-muscle skills and encourage them to take managed risks. This provides children with a sense of accomplishment and self-assurance.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give consistently clear messages so that children know and understand the expectations for their behaviour and receive simple explanations about the consequences of their actions
• further help children to share how they are feeling so they learn the language of emotions and understand the emotions of others.