Little Folks Day Nursery & Out Of School Clubs

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Staff provide children with a range of interesting learning experiences that, overall, motivate them to play and learn. For example, children make links to familiar stories during their role play and recreate scenes, such as eating porridge. However, there are inconsistencies in how staff organise the learning environment, plan and teach children.

This means that children do not receive consistently good learning experiences, which hinders the progress they make. At times, some children are not engaged in purposeful play and learning.Children have plenty of opportunities to develop and practise their physical skills.

Todd...lers learn how to use glue spreaders and use their fingers to grasp small pieces of tissue paper to make a picture. Children enjoy the opportunities to be physically active outdoors and access a wide range of equipment that encourages them to build their strength and take a safe risk. However, the manager has not fully considered the sequence of knowledge and skills the children need to gain to ensure the curriculum precisely reflects the needs of the children who attend the nursery.

Staff have age-related expectations for children's behaviour and children behave well. They are well mannered at mealtimes. Staff are friendly and show warmth to the children as they interact positively with them throughout the day.

Children form bonds with staff and new children seek comfort and cuddles from them.

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

Leaders make strong links with agencies and groups within the local community to meet the needs of the local families. This forms an important part of leaders' self-evaluation to continue to develop these important connections.

However, leaders have not identified some weaknesses in staff planning, teaching and the overarching curriculum to maintain a good standard of education for each child that attends.Leaders provide staff with frequent training and the manager completes observations of staff practice. Recent training helped staff to develop a range of strategies to support children with their behaviour management, such as biting.

However, the monitoring, supervision and professional development arrangements have not been effective. This said, new staff receive a full induction so they understand their responsibilities to keep children safe. Staff are deployed well to meet children's needs, including having a suitable management team in place.

Leaders have identified some useful aspects of children's development to inform the curriculum. However, this is quite general and does not identify precisely how they will help the children to build on what they know and can do over time and lacks ambition. Many of the children attend for short durations, such as for two to three months and the manager does not adapt the curriculum to specifically meet their learning needs.

Staff have clear learning aims for the activities they provide, and the support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective. However, staff do not make good use of their observations of children's individual progress to inform their planning and teaching. Therefore, staff's teaching does not consistently provide each child with good learning experiences that are tailored precisely to their development needs and engage them fully.

Staff do not have high enough expectations of what children need to know and do. For example, they do not prepare children well enough for the transition out of nappies.Children enjoy joining in with songs and rhymes.

Most children listen attentively when staff read stories to them. This contributes to their communication and language development. However, the manager and staff do not consider how the resources available will support children's language development.

There is a lack of progression in the different age rooms to ensure that children are continuously supported to gain good language skills and are well motivated to play and learn.The special educational needs coordinator works closely with outside agencies to support children with SEND. She makes timely referrals so that children receive the required support from external professionals, such as speech and language therapists.

Parent partnerships are effective. Parents speak positively about the care their children receive and how staff provide them with regular updates about their child's achievements. Parents of children with SEND explain how staff give them ideas to support the continued learning at home.

Staff follow thorough cleaning routines to keep the premises and equipment clean. They support children's health effectively and children learn the importance of regular handwashing. Children have access to drinking water throughout the day.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff receive frequent training and support so they understand about the provider's safeguarding policy and procedures. This includes completing rigorous checks of the premises to ensure that children are safe when they play.

The manager and staff know a wide range of signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm and how to report concerns. They know how to manage an allegation about a member of staff. Leaders keep up to date with any local area safeguarding concerns.

They complete thorough checks to verify the suitability of new staff.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date improve the curriculum so this is ambitious and clearly identifies what children need to learn to support their knowledge and skills at different stages of their development 12/01/2024 improve the use of staff's observations and assessments of children's progress to inform planning and teaching so children consistently receive good education programmes that accurately reflect their individual needs and motivate them fully 12/01/2024 support staff to create a language rich environment that consistently helps children to develop good communication skills.12/01/2024 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend the monitoring and professional development arrangements to help staff provide children with consistently good learning experiences.