Little Giants Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children arrive happy in this setting and are greeted warmly by staff.

Children explore the activities set out for them and move freely between the indoor and outdoor areas. However, the quality of teaching is variable. Indoors, staff engage well with the children and have clear aims for what they want the children to learn.

However, although children have lots of opportunities to build on their physical skills when outdoors, staff do not engage in meaningful interactions to enhance children's learning in other areas of their learning or development. Children play with a range of activities that build on their imagination.... They are building strong friendships and play well alongside and with each other.

Overall, children behave appropriately for their age. However, at times, children are not given clear instructions as to what they need to be doing. At these times, children's behaviour deteriorates, and this leads to the children becoming unfocused and over-excited.

Staff have high expectations of children. Since the last inspection, managers and staff have a more detailed understanding of what they want children to learn next. Most staff are enthusiastic and feel more confident in supporting children's learning and development.

However, there remain inconsistencies in staff's understanding of the curriculum and their role in supporting children's learning.

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

Since the last inspection, the manager has begun to improve arrangements for staff supervision. This has successfully improved staff's safeguarding knowledge, increased morale and helped staff gain a better understanding of their role.

However, this process has not yet been fully successful in ensuring the quality of teaching is of a consistent level.The manager has introduced a new planning system to identify what they want children to learn from activities. She has worked closely with other professionals to develop a system for her and her staff.

However, implementation of this process is still in its early stages, so it has not yet fully been embedded in practice.Staff use children's backgrounds and world festivals to help them learn about the world around them. For example, during morning registration, staff introduce ways to say 'good morning' in the languages of the children that attend.

Staff have displayed pictures around the setting of homes and mealtimes from different countries for children to see. This helps children to gain an understanding of the world beyond theirs.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well.

Staff identify their needs early and seek advice from other professionals. They understand the referral system, which ensures that children get the support and help they need from an early stage to help them progress well in their learning.Children's communication and language is supported well.

Staff recognise children's individual needs and use different communication methods, such as picture cards, to ensure all children can communicate effectively.Children are gaining an understanding of mathematical concepts. Staff work with small focus groups to introduce new ideas to children and to help build their focus and concentration.

However, not all staff understand how to incorporate mathematics into all activities to challenge children and extend their learning.Staff are supporting children to gain an understanding of the world around them. Children show excitement when it is time to feed the tadpoles, and they enjoy seeing first hand the progress the caterpillars they are looking after have made.

Parents report that their children enjoy attending the nursery. They feel the staff are friendly and supportive. Parents have seen some improvements in communication between the nursery and home since the last inspection and are receiving more detailed information about their child's progress and next steps.

Staff plan group times with the children. The children enjoy singing and listening to stories and taking part in activities. For example, most children enjoy a group mathematics activity and join in enthusiastically.

However, this activity was not suitable for some of the younger children who became easily distracted. This resulted in the group time being disrupted with some children not joining in and wandering around the room.Staff have begun to introduce activities to help children manage their emotions.

However, as a result of staff not being consistent with the rules, children are not able to manage risks appropriately. For example, children were running indoors and, at times, did not understand how to safely use outdoor equipment.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Managers and staff have good safeguarding knowledge. They can talk about the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of abuse or harm. Staff understand the role of other agencies and how to report any concerns about a child's welfare.

All staff have regular safeguarding training to ensure their knowledge is current. Recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that all staff are suitable to work with children. All staff have current first-aid training to enable them to appropriately deal with accidents and illnesses as they arise.

Risk assessments and daily checks are in place to ensure the safety of the 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 support staff to further improve the learning experiences for children, which cover all areas of learning and provides appropriate challenges for their age and stage of development.02/06/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nimprove the organisation of larger group times to ensure all children remain engaged and develop their listening and attention skills nensure staff are consistent in managing children's behaviour and helping children to learn what is expected of them and to manage risk to themselves.

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