Wesleyhall CC

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and hang up their coats independently. They eagerly explore the environment and confidently select toys to play with. Children use their imagination as they pretend to cook. While they play, staff suggest using a spoon to mix the ingredients. Children enjoy moving the toys around in a bowl with the spoon, and staff follow this interest by providing different materials to mix together. Children use a spoon and their fingers to mix paint and foam and draw on paper. They are learning to make marks. Children are immersed in language, as staff talk to them about what they are doing and introduce vocabulary such as stir and mix.

Children enjoy trying to fix large jigsaw pieces together. When they find it tricky, staff sensitively reassure and support them to try again. Children persevere until they complete the puzzle, and they celebrate together, shouting, 'hooray!' Children then decide to play hide and seek in a tunnel. They crawl inside, hide, and wait. They giggle with excitement when staff count to 10 and find them. Children are also eager to share quieter moments together. They choose books to read and listen carefully to staff as they read the story.

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

• The management team has worked hard to address the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection, using a range of activities. For example, the team has worked with the local authority to complete an action plan. The newly appointed deputy manager has introduced new ways of planning to ensure that staff meet children's needs and follow their interests.
• Staff gather important information about each child, which helps them to know the children well. They make assessments of children's learning and development and plan how to support their progress. However, they do not always ensure that the next stages of learning are carefully sequenced to support the progression of skills in all areas of learning.
• Staff identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and make available relevant support. They work closely with parents and other agencies to ensure that a plan is in place. Consequently, children with SEND receive the help they need to make progress.
• Staff provide good support to children, and their parents, who speak English as an additional language. They speak with parents and share policies in their home language. Parents report positively about their children's experiences in the setting. They appreciate that staff provide them with information to support their child's learning at home. The setting provides each child with a book bag and a selection of books for them to choose from. They take these home to share with their parents and to encourage a love of reading.
• Staff support communication and language through a variety of activities. They sing songs and nursery rhymes and read books. Staff consistently introduce new vocabulary as children play. They pronounce words clearly for children to hear. However, they do not always listen carefully to children and give them time to respond.
• Staff report being supported by the manager. They have one-to-one meetings at which practice is discussed and evaluated. Staff have shared values about the curriculum and practice. They are working towards children becoming more independent and ready for school.
• Staff promote a healthy lifestyle, providing nutritious snacks and drinks. They encourage parents to attend cooking workshops in the community centre to support healthy eating. Staff encourage children to brush their teeth daily in the setting to promote oral hygiene. Staff also recognise that not all children have access to a garden at home. Therefore, they provide opportunities for children to have access to the outdoors, promoting exercise.
• Staff engage effectively with the community centre and local schools to support families. For example, staff deliver parenting workshops in the community centre and arrange for teachers to visit the setting in support of children's transition to school.
• Staff use routine opportunities to promote an understanding of numbers. As children hide, staff count before they start to find them, and as children jump into hoops, staff encourage children to count the jumps.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve planning for children's next steps to ensure that learning is well sequenced
• improve communication by allowing children more time to respond.