Wattisham Airfield Childcare Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. They feel safe and secure in their relationships with staff. Children develop close emotional attachments, seeking out staff for reassurance and to share in their play. Older children enjoy having visitors come to the nursery. They are confident, chat to the inspector and are keen to share their artwork. Children mostly behave well. Staff use sand timers to help children understand when their turn is over. Children enjoy the 'high five' for their individual efforts and beam with delight.

Those children who learn best from being outdoors can do so. Children benefit from interesting activities and resources, both indoors and in the garden. They enjoy the activities and resources provided to them and show good levels of engagement. Overall, staff are led by children's interests. For example, children take part in an activity, finding plastic bugs in a dry flour and chocolate powder mixture. The purpose of the activity is to use tweezers to pick up the bugs, supporting children's ability to make movements using the small muscles in their hands and wrists. However, children notice that when they blow the flour from their hands it makes a satisfying cloud. Staff readily move the activity on to explore textures and talk about them.

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

• Staff know the children well. They talk confidently about where they are in their learning and what they need to do to support their continuing progress. Children learn about the wider world beyond their own experiences. The needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are met. Overall, children develop the key skills needed to be ready for school.
• Staff play with the children during planned and child-initiated activities. However, they do not consistently review and adapt their teaching, to ensure that children are provided with sufficient challenge as they play and learn. Consequently, children do not always benefit from teaching that builds on what they already know and can do. Despite this, children enjoy staff's interactions with them and enjoy revisiting past activities, such as testing whether toys float or sink.
• Staff respond positively to the gestures and babbles of babies, supporting their early communication skills. Older children develop the confidence to speak to others in large groups. They are encouraged to learn 'hello' in other languages and choose which language to use when greeting each other at morning registration. However, children become restless and quickly lose interest in routine whole-group activities. Staff do not organise these well enough to support children to listen and concentrate.
• Children have an understanding of right and wrong. They are beginning to manage their own feelings and are helped to learn about the impact of their behaviour on others. Staff use consistent 'golden rules' that children are reminded of throughout the day. They use positive reinforcement, such as reminding children to use 'kind hands' and 'listening ears'. Staff help children develop a positive sense of themselves.
• Children are helped to learn about the importance of good health and hygiene routines. They manage their own personal self-care needs, relevant to their age and stage of development. Children are learning about the importance of good oral hygiene.
• Staff manage children's transitions from home to the nursery well. They tailor settling-in procedures to the individual needs of each child and their family. Staff implement an effective key-person system. Each child has a named person to take responsibility for their daily well-being and plan for their learning and development.
• Parents report that they are happy with the service provided. They describe staff as 'friendly' and 'caring'. Parents appreciate that the provider is flexible to their changing childcare needs. They state that communication between themselves and staff is good, promoting a shared approach to children's care and learning.
• The provider and staff are committed to providing a good quality care and learning experience for children. Any complaints are managed appropriately. The provider and managers have clear, ambitious plans for the continuous improvement of the nursery. Staff well-being is fostered, and their professional development is encouraged.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff teaching skills to enable them to maintain the highest quality of teaching that builds on what children already know and can do
• review and improve the organisation of routine times, when all children are sitting together, to support them to listen attentively and concentrate.