The Ark in Dartmouth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a calm, welcoming and inviting environment for children. Staff greet children warmly at the start of the day and children settle quickly into activities of their choosing. When more children arrive and children hear the door buzzer, they excitedly say 'more friends here to play'. Children experience a sequenced curriculum that prepares them well for their future learning. Staff provide plentiful opportunities for children to be independent, confident and social. Children develop positive relationships with others. They show care for their friends and help each other with tasks, such as putting their shoes on. Children show pride in their achievements. For example, as they build towers with blocks and successfully count the number of blocks, children clap their friends' efforts.

Children enjoy engaging in activities in the local area, such as yoga sessions, library visits and seasonal walks, such as an autumn lantern walk around the church grounds. Children are excited at having their families take part in some of these activities alongside them and sharing the experience. Children enjoy quality story times that promote their early literacy skills. Staff make the experience inviting. Children use blankets and cushions to share with their friends as they enjoy listening to the story of the week. Children show confidence as storytellers as they join in with familiar parts of the story. Staff model language well for children and speak with them about feelings, and explain the hedgehog in the story is feeling frustrated. Staff explain the meaning of new words simply and clearly. Children enjoy learning that nocturnal animals are awake during the night.

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

• In the community, children learn to have confidence around new people and in new environments as they travel on the local bus to take part in forest school sessions at a local school. Children develop the physical skills of whole-body control and coordination as they help carry wood for campfires and find sturdy logs to sit on when enjoying stories in the woods.
• Staff provide daily opportunities for children to learn outside. Children dress for outside play and enjoy playing in the rain. They play imaginatively with plastic ducks in a tray filling with rainwater. As children play, they sing 'Five little ducks' together. They giggle as they make ducks splash as they swim in their pretend river.
• Children enjoy investigating different shaped autumn leaves. Staff describe differences and children listen with interest to staff's ideas. However, at times, staff do not use questioning effectively to draw out and extend children's own knowledge and extend their curiosity even further.
• Children build respectful relationships. Staff encourage children to show good manners. As children are presented with their lunch, staff gently prompt them to use their good manners and children enthusiastically thank the member of staff who cooked today.
• Leaders support staff to extend their knowledge and skills. Staff attend training that enhances their interactions with children and sharpens the delivery of the curriculum to best support children's progress. For example, all members of staff have received training on targeted speech and language teaching and use strategies modelled by a local speech and language therapist. Staff promote a range of communication methods with children, they consistently use Makaton signing when providing instruction.
• Staff know the curriculum well and use this to plan activities based on what children already know and can do and what they need to learn next. However, at times staff do not consistently support children's next steps in learning when opportunities arise during their play.
• Staff promote children's independence well. They encourage children to do things for themselves and model strategies to succeed. For example, as children attempt to fasten their shoes, staff show the part of the shoe to hold and the part to thread through and push down. Children repeat 'thread and push' as they persevere and succeed.
• Staff form effective working relationships with parents. When children start at the nursery, staff gain information about children that supports them to thrive. Parents value bonds staff form with their key children. Parent partnerships support consistency in care routines, such as toilet training.
• Staff support children well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to help them achieve. Staff provide some targeted teaching to children with SEND, however, during group activities staff do not always target support as effectively as they could, and this impacts on the focus and engagement levels of some children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• promote children's next steps in learning further as they play to support the best progress for all children
• improve the use of questioning to support and extend the curiosity, knowledge and skills of all children
• review the organisation of group activities to help enhance children's focus and engagement.