Teddy Wilf's @ The Westgate

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are extremely passionate and show dedication in helping every child to flourish. They think carefully about what children need to thrive and use additional funding to extend the support they offer. The provider recognises the importance positive physical and emotional health has on children's outcomes. In response, staff use funding to create and implement programmes that teach children safe and healthy habits. This includes exploring topics such as oral health, road safety and online safety. This promotes children's health and welfare to the highest standard.

Children develop meaningful and lasting friendships and take great pleasure in each other's company. For instance, children fully immerse themselves in imaginary play. They work in collaboration as they decide their individual roles and make important decisions, such as what to cook for dinner. Children re-enact what they see from the adults around them as they settle baby dolls to sleep with soft voices and remember to feed the imaginary pets. Staff are always on hand to extend children's play. For instance, staff add books to the role-play area so that children can 'read' their babies a bedtime story.

Staff recognise children's behaviour as a form of communicating their needs. Staff are responsive and approach children's behaviour with kindness and curiosity. They take time to explore how children are feeling and help them learn the language they need to express themselves. Staff working with babies observe them closely. They talk to the babies and narrate what their behaviour may be indicating before providing an appropriate response. For example, they explain to the babies that they are hungry and provide them with a snack. This promotes the children's language and helps them to make connections that enable them to interpret their feelings.

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

• The provider has a thorough overview of the curriculum and its effectiveness in providing children with the best start in life. They monitor children's progress closely and work in partnership with parents to decide what each child needs to learn next. All children, including those who may need extra support, receive exceptional care and high-quality interactions. This helps children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make excellent progress from their starting points.
• The provider is dedicated to creating a positive and supportive culture, where staff continuously develop their skills through high-quality coaching and training opportunities. Highly effective supervision enables the provider to gain an accurate understanding of staff's strengths. Regular individual target reviews help staff extend their skills further and raise their aspirations. This helps staff feel exceptionally well-supported and valued. Staff report that they thoroughly enjoy working at the setting, which has become an extension of their families.
• Children have wonderful opportunities to learn new concepts, such as mathematics, through engaging activities. For example, children have immense fun as they work as a team to build a tall tower out of tyres. Children take turns to measure themselves against the tower and compare their heights with each other. Staff introduce language, such as 'taller' and 'shorter'. Staff use more complex language when working with older children. For instance, staff use 'millilitres' and 'consistency' as children help measure out ingredients to make play dough. This helps provide children with a broad and secure foundation that will support future learning.
• All children develop the skills they need to be highly confident communicators. Staff support children's emerging speech and communication skills exceptionally well. They work in close partnership with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to create a targeted approach that benefits all children. Staff combine several communication aids alongside speech, such as picture symbols and sign language. This helps ensure that every child has a voice and helps all children communicate with each other, despite their stages of development. This also helps children build lasting friendships. Those who are at a later stage in their speech and language development learn a wide range of vocabulary, such as 'ingredients' and 'combine'.
• Children have excellent opportunities to learn about their bodies through sequenced activities that build their knowledge over time. They learn about the crucial role food and drink choices have on their health. For example, they learn that their bodies need some salt to work properly but too much can be bad for them. Established daily tooth-brushing routines and regular discussions help children develop healthy habits and attitudes from the very beginning. Even babies enjoy exploring the feel of a toothbrush in their mouths as they 'brush' their gums and teeth after mealtimes. This provides children with the knowledge they need to grow healthy and strong.