Topsie Yeovil

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and quickly settle, ready to explore the exciting environment. Staff plan a good curriculum, which has a positive impact on children's development. They ensure they represent all family backgrounds of children attending. This promotes a positive sense of themselves and helps children to value other people's differences. Children behave well, developing strong relationships with adults and each other. They listen to instructions and remain at activities to their own satisfaction. For example, they worked together well to manipulate a large parachute, listening for their names and taking turns to swap places. They excitedly suggested their own ideas and had great fun developing their physical skills.

Staff provide good support for children's language skills, including those who speak English as an additional language. For example, they narrate what children are doing and ask good, open-ended questions. They role model taking turns speaking and listening to others. When singing songs, staff stop, and children fill in the missing words, helping them to recall what they already know. The special educational needs coordinator has a good understanding of her role and works successfully with outside agencies and parents, to help narrow gaps in children's development. For example, as recommended, they use picture signs around the premises for non-verbal children, helping them to indicate their needs and understand routines.

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

• Staff use their discussions with parents and constant observation of children to know them well. Each day they set up activities that they know will motivate the children to learn. For example, boys extend their language through enjoying books about dinosaurs and matching the pictures to toys. This sparks a child's imagination to go and play the piano, making up a song about dinosaurs, which others join in.
• Overall, staff prepare children well for school. They help them to build their confidence and independence. Children are willing to have a go at new tasks and take pride in their achievements. Staff effectively help children to manage their feelings, make choices, and suggest ideas. They use daily routines and activities to extend children's mathematical language. However, they do not always make the most of opportunities as they arise, to help with children's early writing skills.
• Children are inquisitive. For example, they want to know why water is not coming out of an urn. Staff help them to remember how they last used it to make mud pies and to see how it is now blocked. Children are eager to remedy this. However, staff are sometimes quick to provide answers and do not always encourage children to make predictions and test their ideas.
• Children develop effective healthy practices. They relish being outside and have daily opportunities for exercise. Children learn the importance of caring for their teeth, drink plenty of water and use a tissue to wipe their nose. The manager is working with parents to help children have healthy packed lunches and is currently looking into the possibility of providing children with a hot meal.
• The manager and staff constantly evaluate their practice and continue to make improvements. They have been focusing on improving the environment and children now have greater access to resources on trollies, to make choices and extend their ideas. The manager seeks parents' feedback and, as a result, take children out more into the community, such as using tools to pick up litter and visiting a care home. This helps them to understand about their own community.
• The leadership and management team provide good support for staff. For example, staff have regular team meetings and are focusing on ensuring consistency in the quality of their provision. The manager provides a strong role model and is mentoring her deputy. They carry out peer observations and staff have good opportunities for training and development. The manager and head office understand the importance of staff well-being and provide good support. Staff have strong partnerships with parents and other providers children attend. This enables them to work consistently together to meet children's learning and care needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help older children to make predications and test their ideas to deepen their critical thinking
• support staff in using all opportunities for older children to practise their writing skills.