Sunshine Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children are settled, confident and very happy during their time at the welcoming nursery. Children learn about the community around them as they are excited to visit a vast range of places, such as the museum and local residential home. All staff have a good understanding of their motivating curriculum and successfully implement it to ensure they help keep children motivated to learn. For example, children enjoy a book about an owl and go on to make their own, using interesting materials, such as wool and fir cones. Children are keen to discuss the owl and learn about the concept of the animal being nocturnal.

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

• The managers and staff successfully build and maintain positive relationships with all children. This includes children who speak English as an additional language. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve and this supports children to believe in themselves and have a positive attitude towards their learning.
• All staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well. They liaise closely with outside agencies and professionals. Staff implement helpful and consistent strategies that support all children. For example, children have opportunities to explore their senses using equipment, such as light up resources.
• Overall, staff support children of all abilities to develop good and confident communication skills. For example, staff use signing with children. Staff ask some good questions. However, they are often closed questions. Therefore, the quality of communication regarding questions is variable and staff do not consistently provide children with more opportunities to think and then respond to questions to build on their already confident communication skills even further.
• Overall, children are engaged in activities and are happy and safe. Staff supervise children closely and always meet the required ratio. However, in larger groups such as brief times in changes in routines and free play, staff are not always promptly aware of the quieter children and where to best deploy themselves to engage them in learning more swiftly.
• Parents are happy and speak very highly of the setting. For example, they comment that staff are like extended family. Staff share helpful information to support parents, such as healthy eating ideas. Staff keep parents informed of their children's day and learning. For example, they regularly share photographs and observations of what children are learning and what their next steps are.
• The managers closely monitor the quality of care and experiences staff provide. Staff evaluate together as a team daily. They discuss what they are doing well and what they will continue to develop further.
• Staff carry out regular training. This includes learning about how to manage children's behaviour. Staff have implemented an interactive way of children expressing their feelings and emotions safely and appropriately. Therefore, all children behave well.
• Staff teach children about other peoples' traditions and cultures from around the world. This includes talking about other countries, such as Jamaica. Children enjoy listening to traditional Jamaican music and taste traditional dishes, such as Jollof chicken.
• The managers and staff use additional funding to meet the individual needs of children effectively. They purchase tickets for children to experience a wide range of trips and outings, such as wildlife parks, to build on their enjoyment of being outdoors.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's confidence to ask consistently high-quality questions that encourage children to think and then respond
• support staff to be confident to swiftly recognise when children may need extra reassurance to engage in larger group activities.