Lees Hill Playgroup At New Cheltenham

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff create a welcoming, safe and stimulating environment. Children are happy, well engaged and take part in a wide range of activities. They develop strong friendships and enjoy one another's company, for example while creating role-play activities together.

They pretend to cook with mud outside and decide to have 'coffee' together as they sit down at a table indoors, offering drinks to one another.There are plenty of opportunities for children to develop their imagination. A good range of interesting resources allow them to use their creativity and develop their own play.

For instance, children build their own climb...ing and balancing structure in the garden using crates and planks. They make pictures of ships by arranging wooden shapes together on a board. The activities match children's interests and next stages in learning well, and staff skilfully support children to enhance their knowledge and skills.

Staff promote children's social skills effectively. They set good examples and provide clear explanations to support children's awareness of positive behaviour. Children learn to be polite to one another and share and take turns.

They clearly demonstrate their understanding of the setting's rules and expectations.

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

The manager is committed to continuous improvement. She carefully considers the needs of the children and targets improvements to provide a quality provision that helps to build a secure foundation for learning for all children.

For instance, she has recently replaced much of the indoor play equipment to create an environment that maximises children's creative thinking.Training opportunities are used effectively to improve staff knowledge and skills. For instance, all staff have completed a training which has helped them to improve their questioning techniques to promote children's language and thinking skills further.

Support for children's language development is strong. Staff engage children in meaningful conversations and encourage them to express their ideas through effective modelling. They extend their vocabulary well, such as introducing the word 'balance' and discussing its meaning while playing with scales.

Staff are skilled at weaving in learning opportunities as children play. For instance, they help children find books that relate to what they are doing and use this as an opportunity for story time. Children develop mathematical concepts as they explore a range of natural resources, such as lining up pine cones, weighing rice, and using different-sized containers to cook with mud outside.

Children develop good levels of independence. For instance, staff support children to put on their coats and manage their personal hygiene independently. Children are keen to take on small tasks such as preparing snacks, sweeping and washing up, and persevere to complete them.

Staff support children's awareness of safety. For instance, they encourage children to check that the gate is shut before playing in the garden. However, staff have not yet considered different ways to promote children's understanding of how to keep themselves safe when they use devices to access the internet.

Partnerships with parents are effective and parents are well informed of their children's progress. For instance, the manager regularly offers stay-and-play sessions that help parents to know what their children are learning at the setting. This helps to provide consistency of care and learning for children.

Staff work successfully with other professionals involved in supporting children's development. For instance, they implement targeted support plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This helps them to work towards closing any gaps identified in children's learning.

Staff know individual children well andadapt their interaction effectively to challenge and enhance their learning.Staff are kind, caring and attentive. They support children's confidence and self-esteem through plenty of praise and encouragement.

Children form strong bonds with them and are well settled and secure in their care. However, there is scope to increase opportunities for children to discuss their own feelings and learn about the feelings of others, to extend their emotional development even further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager ensures staff keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Staff have a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms which may indicate that children are at risk of harm, along with a secure understanding of wider safeguarding issues. They are confident with the procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child in their care.

Staff know how to identify and minimise risks, including carrying out regular risk assessment checks. They are well deployed and vigilant when supervising children and set clear rules and boundaries that help children to keep themselves and others safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: make the most of opportunities to help children develop their awareness and understanding of different feelings and emotions nenhance support for children to develop their understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using electronic devices to access the internet.

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