Youlgrave Playschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly greeted by staff at the door. This helps them to feel safe and secure and to confidently enter the playschool and separate from parents and carers. Children's emotional needs are met well by staff. They have close bonds with them and approach them for cuddles, reassurance and comfort.

Children enjoy a range of physical play opportunities. Staff lead an exercise session and teach children about the impact of exercise on their bodies. Children place their hands on their chest to feel their hearts beating faster. Outside, children use their strength to dig and rake in the sand. Children concentrate and use their hand-eye coordination to build sandcastles. They proudly show staff, who promote children's self-esteem as they praise their creations.

Children are supported by staff to experience and show great curiosity about the natural world. Staff help children to plant sunflower seeds. Children learn how to care for the seeds to help them grow. They remember and recall this information as they tell other staff how to care for seeds and plants. Children use magnifying glasses to search for insects in the soil. They look carefully and show excitement when they discover worms and snails. Staff extend children's understanding and explain that the shell of a snail is also its house. This contributes to all children making good progress in their learning.

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

• The manager and staff plan a curriculum based on children's interests and how to support children's development. They use assessments effectively to identify what they want children to learn next and to inform areas where children may need focused support. Staff know their key children well and plan to meet all children's needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This helps children to make progress relevant to their starting points in development.
• During outdoor play, staff are deployed well and engage children in meaningful activities and interactions. However, on occasion, such as during morning snack and group time indoors, staff are not deployed as effectively. For example, at snack time, staff focus on multiple tasks. They do not clearly identify and agree where to best position themselves to ensure that children continue to receive consistent quality learning experiences.
• Children benefit from the opportunities provided by staff to promote their independence and skills for self-care. For instance, children enjoy washing and pretending to brush the teeth of toy babies. Staff extend children's understanding and explain the importance of caring for teeth. For instance, children confidently access a water station provided by staff, and they independently pour their own drinks throughout the day.
• Staff have strong links with the local school. They help children to become familiar with the school environment and staff. This helps children to feel confident about their transition to school. For example, they take part in joint activities with the school, such as picnics and local community events.
• Children behave well. Staff encourage children to share and take turns. Nevertheless, staff do not always help children to understand the expectations during some routine activities. For example, staff do not make it clear to children when group time is about to take place. This results in some confusion, and children who are sat become distracted by others who continue to play.
• Staff work closely with parents. They regularly share developmental information with parents during stay-and-play sessions, parents' evenings, and via an online application. Parents comment positively about staff and the support they provide to help children to understand and manage their feelings and emotions. Parents feel reassured by the positive relationships that staff build with children and themselves.
• Staff state that they are very happy and feel supported by leaders and managers. They receive one-to-one supervision meetings and attend monthly staff meetings. However, the monitoring and coaching of staff is not fully effective to help all staff to develop their confidence in extending children's learning to the highest level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the deployment of staff during routine activities indoors to provide all children with consistent, high-quality interactions
• help staff to provide children with consistent and clear instructions to further support children to know what is expected of them
• further strengthen the support for staff to help them develop their confidence to further extend children's learning.