Thurnscoe Family Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a very safe, caring and nurturing learning environment. There is an effective key-person system in place, which provides consistency for children if their key person is off. Children have positive relationships with all staff. They settle immediately. Staff are affectionate to children, which is reciprocated. They provide support to children that are quiet and offer them reassurance. Staff provide safe spaces where children spend time with staff expressing their feelings. Children are encouraged to express themselves freely. Children are extremely happy and content and increasingly show high levels of confidence in social situations.

Staff have an ethos of encouraging children's curiosity in the setting. Children are encouraged to independently make their own choices and access all areas of an ambitious curriculum. Practitioners' interactions with children are of a high quality and contribute well to delivering the curriculum intent. Staff are skilled in engaging in children's play and developing their learning. For example, children role-play hospitals. Staff engage in children's play and extend their learning. Children use bandages and pretend to treat sick dolls. Staff teach children about the heart and their pulse. Children learn rich new language, such as 'thermometer, temperature' and 'stethoscope'.

Staff have high expectations for children's learning and development. Children make excellent progress, including those children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff use visual prompts, sign language and sounds to communicate. This gives children a voice to access the curriculum.

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

• Children of all ages gain a deep understanding of mathematics. Children place different shapes on a peg board creating patterns, counting as they do so. Staff talk about the differences and similarities between shapes. Staff adapt activities and encourage children with SEND to make coloured patterns with pegs. Children remove and replace connecting pieces, developing their problem-solving skills. Staff support children to use weighing scales to measure out ingredients when making dough. Children excitedly sing songs to embed early numbers. Staff's intent and implementation of the curriculum are securely embedded consistently across the setting.
• Staff have a firm and common understanding of the curriculum intent and what it means. They provide children with exciting opportunities to develop and strengthen their large and small muscles. Children ride bicycles around tyres. Staff support younger children to climb through tyres and hop in and out of them, first using two feet then one foot. Children learn how to balance when walking on beams. Staff hold younger children's hands then encourage them to try it independently. Children use wheelbarrows to transport items in the garden. Children are highly motivated and are very eager to join in.
• Children develop a love for reading. They access books frequently and share them with staff. Staff encourage parents to come into the setting and read to children in different languages. They use props, exaggerated voices and expressive facial expressions. Staff capture and maintain children's attention. They pause and children fill in the gaps. Children recall and tell parts of the story. They turn to their friends and act out the characters. This helps children to build on their language skills.
• Staff are highly successful at giving children experiences that promote an understanding of, and respect for, people and communities. Children take part in litter picking. They learn what happens to rubbish and what it does to the environment. Managers, staff, parents, and children work together to restore local wasteland and create an open space for learning in the community. Staff engage parents in outdoor learning. Together they read stories, have celebrations, and do arts and crafts activities in the outdoor community space. Children access the forest school. They make fires and cook pancakes. Children learn how to keep themselves and their friends safe.
• Staff are extremely skilled in the early identification of children's needs. They are trained in evidenced based early interventions, such as strategies to support children's early communication. Staff wait when communicating with children, providing opportunity for children to process information. They implement strategies consistently across the setting.
• Staff work extremely well with parents. They provide a whole family approach to the children in their care. Parents are part of their child's learning and progress. They set goals, create plans together and engage in activities in the setting. Staff share information through information boards, learning journals and meetings. Parents report that communication sharing and staff's support are excellent.
• Managers and staff are passionate and committed to providing high-quality care and education. They complete regular reviews of practice, which consider the views of staff, parents and children. They make positive changes, such as introducing reading club with parents of children who speak English as an additional language. Staff engage parents in their children's outdoor learning. Together, they read stories, have celebrations, and do arts and crafts activities on the restored wasteland.
• Managers ensure that staff receive focused effective professional development. They carry out regular peer observations to improve the quality of teaching. Staff have regular supervision sessions and appraisals. Staff feel valued and appreciated. This impacts on the care and education which they provide for all children.