William Gladstone Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily come into nursery with their parents. They hang their belongings up on a peg, wave goodbye and find something to play with. Children engage in their environment and activities for prolonged periods of time. Children behave well. They understand what is expected of them and know the routines. Staff prompt children appropriately, for example, when they need reminding to walk inside.

Children continue to be happy throughout the day; they smile and laugh frequently. In the garden, children run around together, holding hands and giggling. Children work together. They fill the water tray up and they take it in turns to turn the tap on and off, filling a large bowl. They hold a side each, lift it up and walk to the water tray. They smile as the water tips out into the tray. Children are polite to one another and use manners. While children play, they accidently drop their pretend food on the floor. Other children come over to help pick it up and the children say 'thank you'.

Children are confident and they show off skills they have learned to visitors. Children pick up a guitar and hold it. They strum the strings to make sounds and smile. Children enjoy the responsibility of carrying out tasks. For example, children ask to clean the board. They take hold of the erasers and use large motions to rub all the chalk off, and say 'all done' when complete.

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

• Staff provide children with cylinders in the water tray to develop children's understanding of mathematical concepts, such as full and empty. Staff count items as children play and ask them to find numbers in the environment. Staff hold their fingers up to show children how many there are and children begin to use mathematical language and count along with staff.
• Children have experiences that develop their imagination. Staff sit down on the floor and ask if children will give them a new hairstyle at the hairdressers. Children excitedly gather shampoo bottles, combs and brushes from the resources put out by staff. They take it in turns and pretend to wash and style staff's and their friend's hair.
• To support children's physical development inside, staff position low-level furniture for younger children to pull up on. They have arranged soft-play items, which children climb on top of, lift up, move around and squish with their friends. Outside, children enjoy digging, with staff support, climbing up and down stairs and sliding and balancing on carefully arrange balancing beams. Children giggle as they push along cars and wheelbarrows.
• Staff support children to develop independence. Staff describe how to get dressed and put coats on. They help children who need it. Children successfully put their own coats on. At lunchtime, children wash their hands and take themselves to the toilet. Staff open children's lunch boxes slightly, so the children can open them independently. Children pour their own drinks using a water dispenser and do so throughout the day when they want a drink.
• Staff share they feel well supported by the management team. They add that managers support them through observations and supervision meetings. Managers give appropriate and effective feedback to staff and this has a positive impact on children's learning.
• Staff and managers are reflective about the environment and ensure that changes are made where necessary, to improve children's experiences. For example, they have removed their two-year-old space, to ensure that two-year-olds can integrate with older children. Managers believe this has supported both older and younger children with their interactions with each other and enhanced children's attention on activities.
• Generally, children are supported to develop their communication and language. Staff read stories using different tones and sounds. They comment, sing, use single words and ask questions with children. Some staff use new vocabulary with children and ask questions to assess children's language. However, this is not consistent, especially inside. For example, children speak to staff and staff repeat back what they have said, but some staff do not extend this beyond what children have said to increase children's vocabulary.
• Staff have built positive relationships with children. Staff engage with most children in their play experiences and activities. For example, outside, staff enthusiastically sit down on the floor with children and explore what they can find in the sand. However, inside, quieter children tend to walk around playing with toys by themselves for prolonged periods of time, without interaction from staff.
• Staff and managers have a clear understanding and knowledge of child development. They use this knowledge to plan their environments to support children's learning across all areas of learning. Although staff have identified appropriate individual next steps for children, some staff do not utilise their interactions to support children to progress towards their next step.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the consistency of interactions with children, to ensure that all staff are expanding children's vocabulary
• support staff to identify quieter children, to enable them to fully take part in play experiences and activities
• support staff to develop their interactions with children, to ensure that they are working towards children's next steps for their ongoing learning.