Wyvern College Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled, inquisitive and keen to play. They have strong bonds with the staff. For example, very young children beam and eagerly put their hands up for a cuddle when they see their key person. Children develop a love for stories and reading. Older children tell each other stories using pictures as prompts, and younger children enjoy curling up with staff to listen to stories.

Children, including very young children, have a sense of autonomy as they are encouraged to make decisions, such as which nursery rhyme they would like to sing. Children are kind and caring towards one another. They politely ask their friends if they can have a turn next with particular toys. They understand the need to wait until their friends have finished using the toy and do so patiently. Older children excitedly share toys from home as part of 'show and tell'. They share stories about the importance of their toys. For example, they excitedly talk about their teddy bear 'being older than Daddy'. Their peers listen attentively while they wait patiently for their turn.

Children develop their physical skills from an early age. Very young children practise their climbing skills on age-appropriate climbing frames. They giggle in delight as, with support, they 'slide' down the other side of the apparatus.

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

• Ofsted was notified of a change to the nominated individual as required. Despite this, the relevant information was not provided to allow vetting processes to be completed by Ofsted. However, the nominated individual has had their suitability checked by the provider and they have no unsupervised contact with children. As a result, there is no impact on children.
• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress in their learning and development. Children with SEND have their needs met well. As part of this, staff have undertaken additional training as needed. They work effectively together to ensure that children with SEND can access the full provision.
• There is a curriculum in place which builds on what children know as they progress through the nursery. However, some staff's understanding of the curriculum is not yet fully embedded. As a result, some staff do not precisely identify what children need to learn next to help them make even better progress in their learning and development.
• Staff skilfully build on children's interests and use this to enhance their learning and development. For example, children who are eager to visit the zoo are encouraged to create their own zoo within the classroom. This captures their attention and they enthusiastically set to work. As part of this, children develop their mark-making skills by drawing 'panda footprints' around the garden.
• There have been several changes to the management team recently. The management team, including the provider, recognises the importance of having a strong oversight. The team and provider work well together to ensure that the early years foundation stage requirements are being met. However, the provider's oversight needs to be strengthened to further develop teaching to the highest quality. Supervisions of the manager and subsequently of staff do not yet precisely identify where staff practice needs to be further supported. For example, they have not yet addressed the differences in staff's understanding of the curriculum.
• Staff encourage children to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. For example, they provide opportunities for children to work things out independently. Children who want to check that a toy is the right way up are encouraged by staff to think about which way the letters and numbers are as a clue to the answer. Children beam with delight when they work out which way is the right way up by themselves.
• Children's communication skills are developed well by staff. Staff talk to children about what they are doing as they play. They introduce new words into their vocabulary. Staff instinctively repeat words back to children clearly to help them hear the correct pronunciation.
• Parents are happy with the provision. They talk about the good levels of communication between themselves and the staff. Parents comment that their children 'love coming to nursery'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider must:

• ensure Ofsted is supplied with the relevant information so that vetting processes can be completed for the nominated individual, to ensure their suitability. (by 6 March 2023)

The provider should:

• develop further staff's understanding of the curriculum intent to ensure that children's next steps can be precisely identified and planned for
• strengthen the oversight and precision of staff supervision to ensure that teaching is of the highest quality.