The Ark at Waddington

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children confidently enter the setting, eager to start their day. They respond positively to staff's cheerful welcome and happily leave their caregiver. Staff quickly involve children in learning by inviting them to participate in the activities on offer. Children show high levels of concentration when staff teach them a new skill, such as how to use a pipette to intake and disperse water. They persevere and build their resilience, demonstrating a 'can-do' attitude to their learning. Staff praise children's achievements when they successfully use the pipette. This boosts children's self-esteem and motivation to carry on trying.

Children quickly follow staff's instructions to get ready to play outdoors. They learn that they must wear their sun hats and apply sun cream to stay safe in the warm weather. Children form an orderly line at the door, showing respect to their friends as they patiently wait to move through the building. When outside, children engage in a range of well-planned activities. For instance, staff invite older children to participate in fun games to develop their teamwork skills and to encourage children to follow instructions. Elsewhere, younger children learn about capacity while moving water between different-sized containers.

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

• The manager demonstrates strong leadership qualities. She supports staff to implement a curriculum that meets the individual learning needs of all children effectively. Currently, there is an influx of younger children starting at the setting. The manager has responded by focusing staff's teaching and support around children's personal, social and emotional development and their early communication skills.
• Staff are highly competent at supporting children's communication and language development. There is a constant hum of chatter throughout the nursery. Staff skilfully question children to encourage their contributions as they play alongside each other. They extend children's conversations by adding in new ideas for discussion. This develops children's thinking skills, imaginations and vocabulary.
• Staff recognise that some children need extra support to understand the routines of the day. To help children prepare for change, staff show children photos of what will be happening next and use actions to alert children that a transition is approaching. For example, when a period of play time is coming to an end, staff clap their hands. Children stop their activity and start clapping with staff before helping to tidy their toys away. These strategies help children to understand what is expected of them, and as a result, children's behaviour is positive.
• Staff promote children's growing love of storybooks. They frequently read children's favourite stories, knowing that repetition helps to secure children's learning. During large-group times, staff purposefully select stories to extend children's knowledge around a particular topic. The impact of these activities is seen when children independently choose reading as an activity. They show they have learned how to correctly handle books by turning pages carefully from right to left.
• Staff help parents understand what they can do to promote their children's healthy lifestyles. They give parents ideas about nutritious foods they can put in their child's lunch boxes. Staff encourage children to drink water throughout the day to stay hydrated. They ensure that children have access to outdoor play every day so that they can enjoy fresh air and physical activity. These things help children to develop habits that will keep them fit and healthy.
• When children first start, staff collect useful information from parents about their lives at home. However, the arrangements to maintain this two-way exchange of information are not yet fully effective. Additionally, when children attend another setting, staff do not always exchange care and learning information. This means that staff are not always able to plan and provide consistent and complementary learning experiences.
• Through effective assessment, staff quickly identify children who start to show emerging gaps in their learning and development. They tailor the curriculum to help children work towards appropriate targets. However, staff do not fully understand their role in making prompt referrals to external agencies to further support children in the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop more effective ways of gathering information about children's experiences outside of the setting from parents and other childcare settings
• strengthen staff's understanding of their role in how to make prompt referrals to external support services.