Little Cherubs

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children are greeted warmly by staff at the nursery door and safely escorted to their individual playrooms. Here, key staff welcome and settle them to play with the available toys and resources.

Babies show secure emotional attachments as they nestle in the arms of staff when being offered a bottle. Toddlers have fun manipulating bricks to make towers and show pleasure as staff praise them for their achievements. Older children show good imagination as they work together to make 'leaf' soup.

However, the staff's teaching is variable and sometimes children are not given time to consolidate or continue their learning, parti...cularly for older children, which hinders their progress. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The manager does not consistently monitor or recognise the weaknesses in some staff's teaching practice.

Children love to spend time outdoors. Even from a young age, they learn to climb the steps up to the slide, supported by staff to ensure their safety. Children show good coordination as they push wheeled toys along the floor and manoeuvre them well around objects.

Children develop good creative skills as they use paint and chunky chalk to make marks and move to music. Older children manage their personal care needs well, such as taking themselves to the toilet when needed.Children behave well overall, and when asked by staff, children can tell them about the 'golden rules' of the nursery, such as 'kind hands' and 'listening ears'.

Staff use frequent praise and encouragement as rewards when children follow instructions and show kindness to others.

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

Overall, staff know the children well and plan a curriculum to reflect what they want children to learn next. However, not all staff deliver an ambitious curriculum, particularly for older children and children with SEND.

During some activities, staff focus too much on the outcome rather than what they want the children to learn. As a result, some children lose interest and are not sure what staff expect of them.Older children have fewer opportunities to choose how and where they want to play.

This is because staff move children from one area to the next every thirty minutes to allow children to experience play in all four rooms. However, this means that sometimes children have to stop and leave what they are doing. As a result, there are fewer opportunities for them to become deeply engaged and consolidate their learning.

Staff ensure that children have opportunities to explore the outdoors and the local community to build on their understanding of the world. Children take part in forest school trips where they explore the woods and learn how to take controlled risks. Staff take children on walks to learn about the local community and their place within it.

They work hard to ensure every child is treated equally and fairly and have the same opportunities as their peers.The manager and provider work hard to ensure staff are well-supported in the nursery. Staff speak highly of them and of the support they receive through supervision and meetings.

However, the manager does not monitor and evaluate staff practice well enough. As a result, teaching is sometimes inconsistent and does not always meet the needs of children, particularly older children and those children with SEND.In the main, staff help children to develop their independence skills.

Children wash their hands after using paint and take themselves to the toilet when needed. However, sometimes the staff do not give children enough opportunities to extend these skills, such as cutting fruit for snacks, helping themselves to tissues without being asked or putting on their coats. This limits their ability to learn how to respond to their needs, ready for the next stage of learning.

Staff encourage children to practise their speaking skills as they play. When supporting babies, staff speak to them, giving them time to babble and respond back to them. Staff reading stories to toddlers and older children encourage them to guess what will happen next and name the familiar characters.

Partnerships with parents and carers are strong. Parents speak highly of the caring and committed staff team and how much their children enjoy coming to the nursery. They comment on the effective sharing of information, not only during collection but also via the online application.

Furthermore, parents say they feel informed of changes in the nursery, such as when their child transitions from one room to another.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The provider, manager and staff team attend regular safeguarding training.

In discussions, they can explain what would give them cause for concern regarding a child's welfare and who to report their concerns to. Staff are deployed appropriately in the nursery to ensure children are consistently supervised and kept safe. They complete visual risk assessments every day, both indoors and outside, to help ensure areas children access are free from potential hazards.

The manager and provider follow safer recruitment procedures to ensure that anyone working in the setting is safe and suitable to care for children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date ensure the curriculum is implemented consistently by staff to meet the individual learning needs of all children, in particular, older children and those with SEND 21/12/2023 ensure every child has the opportunity to choose how and where they want to play 21/12/2023 ensure supervision and monitoring of staff helps to identify and address weaknesses in their practice in order to raise the quality and improve teaching.21/12/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance existing opportunities for children to use their independence skills.