The Learning Mill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome as they attend this nurturing and friendly setting. Staff take the time to get to know the children during transition sessions. This helps children to settle quickly and develop strong bonds with staff. Children eagerly invite staff into their play. They show pride as they tell staff about what they have made or are doing and go to them for support and cuddles if needed. This supports children's well-being and helps them to feel safe and secure.

Staff have developed a strong curriculum that supports all children to make good progress in all areas. Staff gather starting points and children's interests from parents when they enrol. They use this information to plan exciting activities that engage children in their learning. For example, pre-school children show an interest in pirates and sea animals. Children match numbered coins to numbers in the treasure chest, developing their number recognition. Toddlers enjoy role play with their friends. They enhance their communication, language and social skills as they play. Babies enjoy playing in water. They use their fine motor skills and coordination as they squeeze sponges full of water, giggling as they do so. Staff role model positive behaviour with the children. They support even the youngest children to share, take turns and cooperate with each other. Staff remind the children of the rules. For example, they remind children how to keep safe when going downstairs. Children follow instructions and behave well.

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

• Leaders and managers have a strong ethos for the setting. They want children to be happy and confident learners, who are ready for the next stage in their learning journey. The well-established team works well together. This ensures a relaxed and calm atmosphere, which supports children's emotional well-being.
• Children experience a varied range of opportunities to build on and extend their skills. Staff weave areas of learning into everyday activities. For example, pre-school children develop their fine motor skills and imagination as they make potions in the water. They add herbs and experiment with the different smells. As toddlers play in the sand, staff count the scoops of sand as they fill the buckets, ensuring that children hear mathematical language. Babies explore with paint. They develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as they mark make to create their interpretations of lions. However, staff do not always provide children with enough challenge to ensure they receive the highest quality of education.
• Staff empower children to be independent. For example, older children self-serve at lunchtime, showing good control as they spoon food, such as sweetcorn and rice, onto their plates. Babies feed themselves using spoons and start to drink from cups. This helps children to become increasingly confident and ready for the next stage of learning.
• Overall, staff promote children's communication and language well. Children engage in lively conversations, especially at mealtimes, which are very social events. Staff narrate children's play and ensure children hear a wide range of words during the day. However, occasionally, staff use incorrect words, such as 'doggies' and 'handies'. Therefore, children do not always hear the correct vocabulary to develop their language skills.
• Children's enjoyment of books is evident. They spontaneously choose from a wide range of books, both fiction and non-fiction. Some children sit and look at books independently, and others take books to staff for them to read to them. Babies turn pages and point to pictures, recalling the sounds of animals shown in the pictures. This helps children to start to enjoy books and literacy.
• Parents speak highly of the setting and staff. They value the service the setting provides. Parents have daily communications from staff verbally and through an online system. Parents feel their children have made good progress since starting at the setting. They comment on the family feel and say staff are very approachable and help with any concerns they may have about their child's care or development. Staff talk to parents about children's transitions from room to room or to school. This ensures that parents are fully involved in their child's learning.
• Staff help children to develop healthy lifestyles. They discuss with the children the importance of daily exercise and fresh air and explain about healthy food and how to look after their teeth. Children understand why they wash their hands after using the toilet or before lunchtime. Children are provided with home-cooked food, which caters for any individual needs.
• Staff support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They understand their individual needs and adapt next steps to engage them in activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• identify professional development opportunities for staff, to enable them to increase their knowledge to support and challenge children to enable them to get the best from their learning experiences
• support children to develop communication and language skills through modelling words correctly.