The Villages Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are cared for in an environment that has been created to help them learn the key skills and knowledge they will need as they grow up and transition to school. There is a wealth of resources to expand their understanding of the world, including an area set up as a shop. The outdoor area has been particularly well thought out, with the use of space maximised to offer a range of learning opportunities, such as planting, bird feeding, a water wall and sandpit. There is space for children to run around and climb on obstacles, and there is also a calm area, where they can relax and look at books in the fresh air. Children are also able to explore the wider world during walks in the surrounding countryside.

Staff and leaders plan the curriculum to develop children's confidence, independence and social skills, as well as a broad range of knowledge to prepare them for the next stage in their learning. Children's individual next steps are reviewed regularly and factored into the planning of activities. Parents are kept well informed of their children's progress and provided with ideas to help them to extend learning at home.

Staff have very positive relationships with the children and engage them in lively discussion throughout the day, which promotes their communication and language skills. Children are given lots of opportunities to express their own ideas, develop their thinking and talk about and explore the things that interest them. Staff use resources well to extend children's understanding. For example, a model crab is used to explain how best to handle crabs when children talk about going crabbing.

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

• Leaders have thought carefully about what children need to learn and be able to do in order that they are ready for school. They have made links with a local school. This has provided them with support in implementing a programme of phonics teaching, which dovetails with what the children will learn in Reception Year. This programme has been implemented through a range of engaging activities, which the children really enjoy. For example, children have a lot of fun dressing up as characters and making sounds related to those characters. Parents are encouraged to support their children to gather objects from home, which begins with a particular sound for the children to look at and discuss.
• Staff and leaders know the children very well. When children start at the setting, they are assessed against a broad baseline so that staff can immediately begin planning to meet their individual needs. Each term, key next steps for each child are identified and posted as 'footsteps' on the wall of the room, and these become a particular focus when staff are working with the children.
• The quality of teaching is very good. Staff ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate and express their thoughts and ideas during activities. Children show their knowledge and develop their imaginations. Activities are differentiated for children of different ages and stages of development. For example, during cooking activities, the older and most able children use knives to cut ingredients without help. At different points of the day, children are split into older and younger groups so that staff can adapt activities in an age-appropriate way. However, there are occasions where learning could be extended even further or questions could be asked in a way that encourages wider thinking.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive excellent support. The manager, who is the lead for SEND, is proactive in identifying and planning to meet children's individual needs, involving parents and external specialist support where needed. Where there is a delay in receiving external intervention, the leaders put in place their own plans to support individual children. Children receive one-to-one support, where needed, but the staff approach is very inclusive, so the children feel involved.
• Partnership working with parents is very good. Parents receive lots of information about what their children are learning, and they are also provided with support to continue their children's learning at home. Parents report that attending the setting has had a transformative effect on their child's development.
• Children develop a real group ethic. They learn to work together and to take turns during conversations and group activities. They all contribute to tidying up and eagerly volunteer to carry out other tasks at the request of staff.
• Leaders have put in place effective arrangements to evaluate the practice of their staff and support their development. Staff have regular supervision discussions and access to a range of training opportunities. They are supported to study for higher qualifications if this is something they want to do.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff practice to ensure that opportunities to extend children's learning during activities and interactions with staff are consistently followed through.