Rawthorpe (St James) Playgroup

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and staff are extremely passionate about the playgroup provision. They have high expectations for children's learning and their readiness for school.

The qualified staff know children well. They confidently talk about children's unique characteristics and how they plan to support their next steps in learning. As a result, children's individual needs are met well and they flourish.

Additional funding received for children's care and support is carefully used to meet their learning and development needs.The playgroup is a warm, welcoming and safe environment. Children arrive happy, settle quickly and become r...eady to learn.

Children are confident. They explore and investigate their environment with growing enthusiasm. Staff show great respect for children and this helps children to respect each other.

Taking turns and sharing resources with others is promoted at every opportunity. Staff frequently provide children with positive praise and remind them to use 'kind hands' when they play with their friends. This helps to promote children's good behaviour.

Children are confident and motivated to learn. They concentrate for long periods of time, relative to their age.

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

Parents report that they feel well informed about what their child is doing and what they are learning in the playgroup.

They comment that staff are extremely friendly and approachable and that their children are making good progress.The manager provides regular supervision meetings for staff. This helps them to reflect on their own practice.

Staff attend mandatory training, such as paediatric first aid and safeguarding. However, staff's professional development is not yet robustly focused on raising the quality of teaching to an even higher level.Staff promote children's communication and language skills particularly well.

They read stories to children, sing nursery rhymes and provide narratives for younger children's play. Staff use effective questioning techniques that allow children to think critically. For instance, children are challenged to consider which food babies might eat.

The committee and qualified staff team demonstrate a strong commitment to improving the quality of the provision. They regularly reflect on their practice and have plans in place to further develop the outside play area. Parents contribute to the development of the playgroup by completing documentation, such as questionnaires.

Children are happy, emotionally secure and behave well. Staff are attentive and kind. They sensitively help children to understand their own feelings by using books and emotion paddles.

Overall, children's independence skills are supported well. For instance, they confidently select what they would like to play with from a wide range of high-quality resources. However, at snack times, staff do not make the most of opportunities to encourage children to take responsibility for routine tasks.

The effective key-person system ensures staff have a good knowledge about their key children. Staff obtain meaningful information from parents about their children when they start. This helps children to settle easily and to develop secure attachments with warm, caring staff.

Staff have very good relationships with staff at the local primary schools. They meet before children leave and share pertinent information about children's achievements. Staff from schools visit children in the playgroup, which further supports the continuity in children's learning and development.

Staff are skilled at incorporating the teaching of mathematics into everyday activities. For instance, when singing rhymes, children confidently work out how many will be left when one is taken away.Healthy practices are supported well.

Children relish the freedom of the outdoor area. They test their physical skills and coordination as they balance, climb and skilfully race around on scooters. Children demonstrate good hygiene routines and wash their hands before they eat.

Staff provide children with experiences to help them to understand how different people live and how they celebrate. For instance, staff offer craft activities and opportunities to try food from different cultures.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and the management committee follow robust recruitment and vetting procedures to ensure that staff working with children are suitable to do so. Staff have a good understanding about their roles and responsibilities to protect children. They are clear of the procedures to follow if they have concerns about children's welfare, including protecting children from extreme views.

Daily safety checks help ensure that children play in a safe environment and are not exposed to risks. Suitable security systems are in place that include the signing in of any visitors, and key-fob access ensures no unauthorised persons enter the playgroup.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen opportunities for children to take responsibility for small tasks that build their growing independence broaden staff's professional development and training to consistently help raise the quality of teaching to the highest level and extend children's learning even further.