West Denton Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide strong support for children to develop socially at this welcoming and friendly setting. Children are encouraged to play cooperatively as they pretend to make ice creams in the role-play corner. They learn to take turns during group games and by using resources, such as sand timers. Staff support children to share popular resources, including bikes. Children are growing in confidence and feel a sense of ownership and belonging. They help out with daily tasks, such as cleaning tables after snack time. Children register themselves into the setting and have their own pegs and trays. Such activities help them to feel included. Staff use pictures to show children what is going to happen next. This helps create secure routines for children and helps new children to settle quickly.

Children are happy, settled and secure. They enjoy lovely relationships with staff and form close bonds. Staff are sensitive and caring. They encourage children to become increasingly independent and make simple choices. For example, children wash their hands independently and choose the fruits they would like to eat at snack time. Staff talk to children about healthy food and lifestyles. They promote good hygiene routines and hold tasting sessions for children to try various fruits and vegetables. All children have daily access to fresh air and exercise.

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

• Staff are experienced and have a good knowledge of child development. They understand how to support children to embed and extend their learning. Children benefit from a wide variety of interesting and overall challenging activities that cover all areas of learning.
• Overall, support for children's developing communication skills is good. Staff repeat back to children what they have said to show they are understood. They support children's language development through singing, stories and rhyme. However, there is scope for staff to support children to speak more clearly, for example, by becoming less reliant on comforters, such as dummies.
• Support for children's physical development is strong. Children develop strength and balance as they climb and stretch on equipment in the enclosed garden. They create their own obstacle courses and take part in a sponsored toddle and games events, where they jump, skip and hop.
• Children develop coordination through craft activities. They roll dough and dab paint onto pictures of leaves. Children practise with tweezers as they pick up toy insects as part of an activity. Managers use additional funding to expand outdoor play equipment to help support children's physical skills further.
• Children learn about the wider world around them through nature walks, where they collect leaves and take part in bug hunts. They learn about life cycles as they care for caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies. Children take part in celebrations through activities, such as Easter Egg competitions. Staff extend their knowledge by using favourite books to encourage children's understanding of the world and love of stories.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Staff complete training in relation to support for children with autism spectrum disorder. Feedback from parents of children with SEND is positive. Staff work well with other professionals from education and health to help provide consistent support for children's development.
• Overall, partnerships with parents are good. Parents praise the fundraising events, which help promote links between home and the setting. There is scope, however, for staff to share more detailed information with parents regularly about their children's progress. Relationships with neighbouring schools have been established by managers, to help support children as they move to the next stage in their learning.
• Managers provide strong support for their staff team, who work together and support each other well. They provide staff with access to support for their mental health and general well-being. There are good opportunities for staff's continuous professional development.
• Staff meet with new parents to gather their views on how well their children have settled. They meet regularly with managers to reflect on experiences for children at the setting. Managers and staff use this information to inform continuous improvements.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen processes for sharing more detailed information on children's progress regularly with parents, so they feel better informed about their children's learning
• support children to speak more clearly, in order to help develop their speech skills further.