Mac’s Club

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements The owner and manager are knowledgeable and ensure the club is well organised and inviting. Children arrive happy and enthusiastic for the session ahead of them.

Staff greet them with warmth and excitement, and there is a clear ethos of mutual respect and kindness. Children are relaxed and settled at this friendly club enabling them to form positive friendships and thoroughly enjoy the company of the staff who care for them. Children make choices about the activities they wish to take part in.

Children have plenty of safe opportunities for fresh air and exercise on the host school playground. They choose if they would like... to play racing games, push scooter boards developing their large muscles or blow bubbles and watch them float into the sky.Children enjoy quieter activities, such as playing with toy dinosaurs, reading books in a dedicated quiet area and mark-making activities.

For example, they enjoy practising writing their name and creating Halloween pictures. Children become deeply engaged in their chosen play and activities. They play harmoniously and children of all ages are well behaved and considerate of each other.

Children speak to new adults with confidence and are keen to explain why they enjoy attending the club so much.

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

Staff form trusting relationships with children, which help them to feel safe and welcome. They speak with children about recent important events in their lives, such as achievements at school.

Children show they feel secure and well cared for as they go to staff for reassurance.Staff know the children well. The manager collects detailed information from parents before children start at the club.

Younger children are assigned a key person, so that they have a familiar adult to form a relationship with as they settle in. Children already know some staff because of their roles within the school. This helps to provide continuity of care for children.

Staff are aware of what the school curriculum is teaching children and complement this with activities they plan for children. However, they have not gathered individual children's specific next steps in learning from school.Staff join in with children's games and praise them for their skills and individual abilities and achievements.

Staff adapt the support they offer and the expectations they have of individual children, depending on each child's stage of development. For example, staff use malleable activities to develop younger children's fine motor skills and older children's imagination.Children are well behaved while at the club.

They are polite to each other and staff. Children help each other to tidy up, take turns with resources and listen to one another as they imaginatively build with plastic bricks. Staff help children to regulate their emotions.

They talk to children about how they are feeling and provide strategies to help children to manage their behaviour. For example, staff talk to children about taking deep breaths and counting as they breathe, to help when they feel anxious.Children are provided with a range of healthy snacks and staff encourage children to try new foods.

Snack time is a social occasion. Children sit and talk to their friends and develop table manners. Staff talk to children about healthy eating and how food provides their bodies with energy.

Staff communicate well with parents. They gather comprehensive information from parents about their children. For example, they find out about children's likes and dislikes, family members and any medical needs or allergies, to ensure children are fully supported.

Parents are extremely complimentary about the club and the approachable and friendly staff. They speak of how happy they are to have this provision on the school site.The owner has a commitment to the well-being and development of staff skills.

She has meetings with individual members of staff to check on their mental health as well as providing training to support their practice. This helps to keep staff up to date with new ideas and practice. For example, staff have received training to enable them to support children to learn how to manage their own behaviour and understand their feelings and emotions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The owner and staff demonstrate a secure understanding of safeguarding. They are confidently able to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse.

They demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to record and report any concerns about the children or staff. Leaders and staff communicate well regarding safeguarding. Keeping children safe is a priority for everyone.

The owner conducts appropriate checks to ensure that they employ staff who are suitable to work with children. The manager and staff carry out daily risks assessment to ensure that children play in a safe and suitable environment. Staff use effective and daily risk assessments to keep children safe while on the secure premises.