Witty Kiddies Gillingham

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages are settled, confident and happy during their time at the friendly and welcoming nursery. Staff have a good understanding of their challenging curriculum and how to successfully implement it. Staff provide children with well-thought-out activities and experiences they know will engage them in learning. Older children explore animals and talk about different habitats, such as when staff teach them about which animals live in the jungle. Younger children explore through sensory experiences, such as exploring toy ducks in water, and staff teach them songs about different animals.

Staff teach children about the importance of following good hygiene routines. For example, children independently follow thorough handwashing practices and discuss the benefits of doing so. Staff provide all children with good opportunities to build on their physical skills. This is demonstrated when children confidently and safely negotiate age-appropriate climbing equipment. Staff are positive role models and teach children what is expected of their behaviour. As a result, children are kind and polite and behave well. For example, they remind each other of the rules, and when they accidently brush past each other, they apologise with good levels of maturity.

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

• The management team and staff use additional funding to support the individual needs of children effectively. For example, they purchase a wide range of resources to support children to develop their physical skills and build on their preference of learning outdoors.
• All staff establish positive relationships with children. They get to know what makes them unique and plan activities that they know children will enjoy. Staff know how to meet children's needs well. For example, they swiftly highlight when babies require a cuddle or when they need to sleep.
• Staff have high expectations of children. They plan activities and experiences that challenge children's individual abilities. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have a positive attitude towards their learning. This helps children of all ages and abilities to make good progress.
• All staff support children with SEND well. They implement helpful strategies to support children. For example, they introduce cosy spaces in each room for children to use to regulate their emotions safely when they become overwhelmed. This supports children to manage their feelings with good levels of maturity.
• The management team and staff establish positive partnerships with parents. They regularly share information with parents about their children's achievements and what they are learning next. All staff remain professional and ensure they provide parents with a confidential space to share any sensitive information with the utmost privacy and respect.
• The management team closely monitors the quality of care and teaching that staff provide children. Each day, the team evaluates and reflects on what went well and what could be done differently. Staff plan to continue to enhance their garden space to further develop children's already good learning experiences outdoors.
• All staff carry out regular training. This includes learning about how to fully support children to manage their emotions appropriately. As a result, staff implement discussions about feelings into the routines. This supports all children to behave well and manage their emotions with good levels of maturity.
• Overall, staff support children to develop some good communication skills. However, good quality interactions and support for communication are, at times, inconsistent for younger children. For example, during some activities, staff are not as confident in building on conversations and encouraging younger children's speech. This does not consistently support all children to develop their communication and speaking skills even further.
• All children have some good opportunities to be creative. For example, babies enjoy activities such as feet painting. However, art tends to be adult led. For example, at times, staff tell children which part of the paper to paint. They do not offer children consistent opportunities to express themselves and use their own creative and imaginative ideas more freely.
• Staff teach children about other countries, traditions and festivals outside of their own communities and experiences. This includes learning about the traditions and beliefs of different religions, such as Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. This helps children develop a good level of understanding and respect for others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff confidence to provide younger children with consistently high-quality opportunities to develop their communication skills further
• support staff to consistently provide children with opportunities to freely express their own creative ideas.