Ladybirds@Riverside

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive excitedly and are happy to see the friendly staff team.

The environment is set up with activities that have been planned with the children's interests in mind. Children immediately find activities that they enjoy and are confident to explore. Frozen paint is a real hit and children explore with their senses, changing frozen paint to liquid by washing it in water.

Children are happy to explore outside. They explore with magnifying glasses and are interested in looking at snails. Confident staff are able to further extend the play experiences and ask questions that prompt conversations rich in new languag...e opportunities.

Encouraging children to explore this interest develops their confidence. Children have the opportunity to be physical in the well-resourced garden area. Staff focus effectively on a curriculum that supports gaps in children's learning and experiences.

They recognise that there has been an impact on children's communication and language development as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are particularly aware of the need for a strong focus to support families and build on community. For example, a parent information station is readily available with helpful guides about speech and language skills, personal care guides and healthy eating.

Children show affection towards the staff team, showing that they feel safe and secure. Staff know the children well and use this knowledge to support children's individual learning goals. Children behave well, are focused and make good progress in their learning.

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

Staff place a high focus on children developing independence skills and being able to manage their feelings and emotions. There are many opportunities for children to do things for themselves. For example, they pour their own drinks and put on their own shoes.

Staff allow children time to explore these skills. This builds on children's confidence and self-esteem. They are happy when they achieve these goals.

Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents comment that they have regular parent meetings and that the support from management has covered many areas in their life, not just the child. They feel happy to leave their children, knowing they are well cared for.

One parent highlights the positive impact of early intervention on their child's learning and development. Leaders are focused on developing a community that supports the whole family.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive a good level of support.

Leaders work alongside key staff to identify possible concerns and work alongside other professionals in order to put the right support in place. As a result, staff develop good relationships with children. Children are happy and making good progress.

Staff have good knowledge of their key children. This includes their recent achievements and goals. However, they do not always know how to use the information gathered from their observations of children's assessments to further stretch children's thinking.

This means that some teaching is not precisely matched so that children can build on what they already know.Staff report that they are supported well. Leaders are very supportive of the staff team.

They lead by example with their own teaching skills. Staff receive regular supervisions. However, leaders do not consistently focus on supporting staff to raise the quality of teaching further.

Staff help children to learn about being healthy and provide opportunities to discuss healthy food choices at mealtimes. Staff also support children to be physically active while playing outside. Children are supported by staff.

For example, they are shown how to set up an obstacle course with balancing beams. Younger children independently repeated the activity with increasing confidence and success, delighting in their achievements.Leaders plan a curriculum that creatively supports early literacy skills.

They provide opportunities for children to take part in stories and sing rhymes. Children enjoy reading stories and know the songs well. This strengthens their vocabulary skills.

Children express themselves creatively by using a range of resources to make marks with paints and dough. This helps to develop their fine motor skills to support future writing.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities to keep children safe. Children freely explore an environment that is safe and secure as a result of robust risk assessments in place. The staff team demonstrates a confident understanding of the safeguarding policy and procedure.

Staff understand signs and symptoms of abuse and what to do if they have concerns that involve team members. Leaders ensure that staff knowledge of safeguarding is up to date through regular monitoring and training.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to make better use of their ongoing observations and assessments to target planning precisely around children's individual learning needs.

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