William Older Playgroup

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and staff carefully plan activities to excite and engage children's interest. The beautiful playrooms and resources are thoughtfully matched to children's learning needs at each stage of their development.

For example, the focus on sensory activities helps to ensure younger children settle easily. They develop hand control and learn new vocabulary as they explore pretend snow, happily filling tubes and feeling the textures of snowballs. Children respond well to the staff's caring interactions.

They show extremely high levels of motivation and enjoyment in their play. They remain focused for long periods of ...time, become deeply involved in their learning and make good progress. Older children eagerly begin every day in the extensive outdoor environment.

Children are extremely inquisitive, and explore and investigate the endless, challenging opportunities for learning. They work together to find a way to send cars down a series of pipes, for example. Staff build children's self-esteem and resilience exceptionally well, giving constant praise and encouragement.

Even the youngest children persevere and manage their own risks, such as when they carefully balance on planks. Children interact with their peers extremely well. They readily share toys, help each other to find what they need and follow routines.

For example, children tell their friends it is time for snack by giving them their name card.

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

The talented special needs coordinator works closely with staff, families and other professionals to support children's individually tailored care and learning. For example, children enjoy additional activities to develop listening and attention skills.

Staff use Makaton signing to support all children's communication. Children develop strong social and communication skills, and quickly grow in confidence. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are completely included and make very good progress.

The manager and staff consistently model respectful behaviour. Staff very skilfully use praise and conversation to help each child feel respected and valued. They help children to understand and control their feelings, as they practise making grumpy faces, for example.

Children behave extremely well and show very positive attitudes to learning.Staff successfully encourage children to be enthralled by books and stories. Staff read to them with great expression, using simple props and actions.

Children show developing understanding as they answer questions about the story and make links with previous learning. Children are completely engaged and develop good literacy skills.Children develop an increasing understanding of mathematics.

Staff use age-appropriate strategies to help children learn about shape, space and measure. Younger children enjoy singing number rhymes and begin to make links between numbers and quantity. Older children easily find and name the magnetic shapes they need to build a model.

Occasionally, staff are overly helpful and direct children's activities too much. This means children have fewer opportunities to develop and explore their own ideas.Staff make exceptional use of visitors from the local community to give children a very wide range of additional learning opportunities.

For example, they excitedly catch bubbles in nets as they take part in the 'Songbirds' group. The strong partnership with parents enables children to learn about other people, as they share home traditions and celebrations, for instance.The manager and staff have fostered a good partnership with the school, which greatly benefits the children.

For example, older children share some outside space and become familiar with the school building. The transition meeting for parents is held early in the year to help anticipate and avoid any problems. Children are prepared well for the eventual move to school.

The experienced and passionate manager shows a good commitment to the professional development of her team, encouraging training in all areas. Staff are given the opportunity to feed back about training they have attended and bring new ideas to influence practice.The trustees support the setting well with financial oversight and the setting is well run by the manager.

However, the nominated individual is unable to demonstrate that she fully understands her responsibilities as a provider.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a good understanding of what might be a concern about a child's welfare.

This includes following the whistle-blowing policy, should they have an allegation against another member of staff or a manager. They follow clear procedures to help protect children from harm. They regularly refresh their knowledge of safeguarding, through discussions and training courses.

Comprehensive recruitment procedures, including rigorous background checks, ensure that children are cared for by suitable adults. Thorough drills help to ensure that children and staff know what to do in the case of a fire.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance teaching to help staff consistently provide opportunities for children to explore their own ideas nensure the nominated individual is fully aware of her responsibilities as the registered provider.

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