Toddle In Daycare Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy attending this setting. They arrive happily as they are met by friendly staff at the start of their day. Staff work well together as a team, which helps to provide a warm, friendly atmosphere in which children can settle straight into their play. Children's well-being is supported right from the start and continues throughout their time at the setting. There is an effective key-person system in place, which helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff support children effectively to understand their expectations. They are good role models and remind children to use good manners and follow expected rules and boundaries. This helps them to develop positive behaviour, such as tidying up after themselves and taking turns.

Leaders and managers develop a well-sequenced curriculum from which children benefit and learn well. Children use signs alongside verbal communication during song and rhyme sessions and to make choices, such as choosing milk or water at snack time. This is used consistently throughout the setting to support children's speech and language development. Staff in the baby and pre-school room plan a well-resourced learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, which provides children with opportunities to learn and develop.

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

• Leaders monitor children's progress and identify gaps in their learning. They work in partnership with parents by offering a book loan service and providing them with detailed information on how to support children's learning at home. This supports school readiness and children's vocabulary, and it helps children to develop a love of books from an early age.
• Staff adopt a positive approach to behaviour management. They give praise and use incentives, such as moving up the 'stepping stones'. The effective use of these strategies helps to support children's feelings and positive behaviour.
• Staff plan many opportunities throughout the setting for children to practise and develop their large-muscle skills. Babies crawl, climb and pull themselves up on furniture. Toddlers and pre-school children explore being outdoors, scrambling up the slope and rolling or sliding back down the hill. This helps to develop children's independence, confidence, balance and coordination.
• Children with identified additional needs are supported via nurture groups, which are led by the early years teacher. Additional funding is used to purchase resources and reduce ratios for small-group time to support children's learning and development, helping to close the gap between them and their peers.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress in their learning. Staff work well with parents and other agencies to ensure consistency for children. For example, staff liaise with parents and other involved professionals when designing teaching plans. This collaborative approach to children's learning helps to ensure that children make progress from their starting points.
• Overall, staff plan well and build on what children know and can do. They identify children's interests to help maintain their attention. However, there are times when children's individual learning needs are less well met. For example, during group times, activities are not well matched to the needs of all children participating. As a result, children lose interest and become disengaged.
• Children develop their communication and language skills through wonderful opportunities. Older children show curiosity about the burn on a staff member's arm. They use bandages from the hospital role-play area and ask questions about what happened and how they can help. They explore books about the body to learn more about how bodies work. This creates opportunities for introducing new language, discussion and back-and-forth interactions.
• Overall, staff work well with parents. They share information and provide feedback. However, staff have not yet considered how they can support parents in promoting learning at home, specifically around online safety and how to help children stay safe when using the internet at home.
• Equality and diversity are promoted throughout the setting. Staff display family photos and use keywords in different languages to make children and parents feel welcome.
• Continuous reflection is key to this setting. Managers give appropriate and effective feedback to staff. This has a positive impact on children's learning. Staff comment that they feel well supported in the setting. They attend training and implement this into their practice. This supports children's learning and development and ensures their safety.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the implementation of the curriculum for younger children so that learning intentions are tailored to support individual children's learning needs
• strengthen partnership working with parents to support children's continued learning at home, specifically around internet safety.