The Kindergarten

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff help children to become independent, develop their physical abilities, and build on their social skills at this setting. They encourage meaningful conversations by listening carefully and asking thoughtful questions. Staff know each child very well and plan activities that meet their individual needs. The setting offers a curriculum that places a strong emphasis on outdoor play. Children spend much of their time outside, where they have the freedom and space to take risks, explore, and learn from their experiences. This approach promotes children's resilience, creativity, and provides a strong foundation for future learning and their eventual move on to school.

Children are engaged, curious learners and enjoy taking part in the different learning experiences available to them. For example, children spend a large part of the morning in the outside area, pouring, stirring and mixing fruit tea. Staff ask what is needed to make a cup of tea, and the children explain that tea bags, water and sugar are required. Children explore why loose tea is not in a bag and make connections to healthy eating, with one child eagerly declaring that sugar is not healthy. The tea is confidently poured into tin cups, and children explore the smell and colour of different fruit teas. Children develop positive attitudes to learning.

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

• Songs and rhymes play an important part in helping children to learn new words and become more confident speakers. Children enjoy exploring what their bodies can do as they dance, stretch and join in with action songs in a large group. However, staff do not always identify carefully enough where group activities do not meet the needs of younger children. For example, they do not adapt their practice when younger children begin to lose interest and start to play with the toys around them. This distracts some of the older children from engaging with their learning.
• Staff support children to develop a love of books and storytelling from an early age. The setting challenges stereotypes by providing books that feature different genders, cultures, and family structures. Staff introduce the language of feelings and emotions during story time. For example, staff ask children how the various characters may be feeling in the story. Children eagerly explain, 'Oh baby bear is feeling sad.' As the story continues, they explore whether the girl was being kind to the bears. They consider how she may now feel 'sorry' for her actions. This supports children to develop respect and empathy for others.
• Staff have strong partnerships with other professionals and the local community to support children and families, including those with a special educational need and/or disability (SEND). They collaborate closely with the onsite school to support smooth transitions for children as they move on to their next stage of learning. Additional funding is effectively used to provide additional support to meet individual learning needs.
• Staff receive regular supervision to further develop their already good knowledge and skills. They implement a curriculum which is well sequenced and builds on what children already know and can do, to help them reach the next steps in their development and reach their full potential. Although staff have a good knowledge of children's next steps in learning and work hard to successfully encourage older children's thinking skills and creativity, they are less precise about what the youngest children need to learn next and how they will do it.
• Children learn the importance of healthy practices. They sing a song together about washing hands before lunch. Once they have done this, they go to the table and find their lunch box. Staff have high expectations of how children should behave, and children respond positively. Care routines such as nappy changes are carried out sensitively and respectfully. Children are positively supported through conversation as they learn about their own hygiene needs.
• The setting actively involves parents in their children's learning. This includes providing parents with information to help support children's learning at home. Parents speak highly of the setting and staff members, as well as the experiences that they plan and provide for children. They are invited to attend a variety of events, providing a welcoming space for new parents and strengthening community ties.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation of group activities to consistently meet the needs of the youngest children
• support staff to understand how to embed the curriculum for the youngest children so that every child is provided with high-quality learning experiences to help them make even better progress.