Tydd St Mary Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are encouraged to be independent. Younger children receive minimal support from staff to put on their coats and pour their own drinks. Older children manage these tasks on their own. Children are given responsibilities at snack time. For instance, older children happily inform their friends when snack is ready. Children help staff to set the snack table with cups and jugs in preparation for their friends' arrival. They show pride when they do this, telling visitors what they have achieved. This contributes to raising their self-esteem.

Children are very inquisitive about the world around them. For instance, in the garden, staff give older children binoculars and ask them what they can see. Children say that they can see another child playing on a bike. Staff show younger children how to use magnifying glasses when they ask them to search for insects in the garden. Children find worms and learn about the differences in their size. Children are given torches to investigate what toys and resources they can light up as they move around indoors. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) go with staff to access a dark den, where they look at lights and solve problems when they work out how to switch them on. This contributes to their sensory development and understanding of how technological devices work.

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

• Staff use observations and assessments as well as children's interests to help identify what they need to learn next. When children show an interest in dinosaurs, staff provide plenty of opportunities for them to build on this interest during their play. Children show their imagination when they pretend that toy dinosaurs are eating leaves in the garden. Staff provide activities for younger children to begin to match small, coloured toy dinosaurs to the same colour containers. This contributes to children's mathematical skills and sorting objects into groups.
• Staff invite parents to attend meetings to discuss their children's learning and development. This helps to keep them informed of their children's progress. Staff invite children to take a teddy bear home. They invite parents to share photos of the bear with their children. When children bring these back to the playgroup, staff share the bears experiences with the other children. This helps children to make connections between their home and the playgroup.
• Staff model how to be polite and use good manners. This results in children copying and saying 'please' and 'thank you' at snack time when they want and receive food. Children listen to staff's instructions, such as when they ask them to wash their hands before they eat and after messy play activities outdoors.
• Staff offer children a nutritious range of snacks and drinks, contributing to a healthy diet. Children help staff to plan and grow fruit and vegetables in the garden, such as carrots, beetroot and strawberries. They harvest these with staff and eat them for a snack. This helps children to learn how healthy food grows.
• Children are keen to take part in group times that staff plan for them. However, sometimes, staff focus their attention on listening to the confident children who like to answer the questions, instead of encouraging less-confident children to join in. This means that less-confident children are not fully encouraged to participate.
• Staff work well together to support children with SEND. Referrals are made to involve other professionals. Staff also liaise with parents to identify specific targets and ways to meet their children's individual needs. This includes staff identifying how to help children to manage and regulate their emotions. Staff play classical music, which helps children to be calm.
• Overall, staff support children's communication skills well. For example, they ask children questions and give them time to answer. However, when children say words incorrectly, staff do not always help them to understand the correct words. One example of this is when children say 'horsey'. Staff copy what children say, instead of telling them it should be 'horse'.
• Additional funding that some children receive is used effectively. For instance, additional staff provide one-to-one support for children to promote their learning and individual needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's interactions to support less-confident children to participate during planned group times
• support staff to use words correctly when they play alongside children to help build on their speaking skills.