Littlemonkeys Daycare

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement The leadership team demonstrate a commitment to drive improvements. They have successfully met the previous actions and they have a clear vision about what they want children to achieve and learn.

However, some staff practice in supporting children's health and well-being is not effective. Additionally, not all staff implement the curriculum learning intentions well enough to help children build on their knowledge and skills to a good level. Despite the weaknesses, children are generally happy and settled and show that they feel safe in the care of staff.

Children move around their room with confidence and make decisions ...about what to do. They make independent choices about their play and are generally interested in the activities provided. For example, babies have fun with shape sorters and the older children enjoyed exploring with the magnets.

This helps to support their hand and eye coordination. Children have access to a well-resourced nursery environment. Staff provide and support children with a range of sensory activities, such as paints, cereals, and water, which children enjoy investigating and exploring with.

Staff support children's behaviour and emotional development well, through effective praise and encouragement.

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

Overall, staff demonstrate an appropriate understanding of what they want children to learn. However, the quality of teaching is variable.

Some staff struggle to effectively deliver the teaching aims and intent of activities to a consistently good level. For instance, during an activity out in the community, staff do not consider how to include all children in sharing their views of what they can hear. Additionally, staff do not fully consider the key learning and length of the activity, to hold the interest of all the children.

This does not support good quality teaching.Children eat well together and the new procedures implemented have improved the organisation of mealtimes. However, these have not been fully effective to ensure good hygiene procedures are maintained.

For example, staff carry out children's plated food and communal self-serving bowls stacked up on top of each other. This is not hygienic and compromises children's health and well-being. Staff sit with the children while they are eating.

However, they do not support them to understand how healthy eating contributes to their overall health and fitness.Staff do not show a secure understanding of how to promote children's good health. For example, during activities where children can explore real life foods, staff comment that children bite and eat the fruits and vegetables in the home corner.

They then allow them to put them back for their friends to explore. This does not support children's good learning and does not help to prevent the spread of infection.Staff interact pleasantly with the children and offer a consistent dialogue to them as they play.

For example, staff in the baby room talk and sing to the children about the sounds the animals in the puzzle make. Older children enjoy stories, which are read engagingly to them. Staff ask the children questions.

However, too often, staff do not give children sufficient time to think and respond to the questions asked.Children behave well and have clearly formed some good friendships. For instance, children take turns and help each other to dress up as they transform into superheroes.

All children have daily opportunities to play outside, and they enjoy adventures in and around the local community. The garden is used well to support children's physical skills. For instance, children learn how to balance and move in different ways, such as hopping like frogs and marching like ants.

Babies' physical development is supported well. For example, they use equipment to help them pull themselves up, and they develop their climbing skills as they explore on the inside steps and slide.Parents comment that they are happy with the care provided and their children are making progress in their development.

They remark that they receive a good amount of information about their child's day and that their children show they are happy to attend. Relationships with other professionals are well embedded to support continuity of care.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Children play in a safe, clean, and secure setting. They are well supervised by the staff, who are deployed suitably. Staff understand their responsibilities to safeguard children.

They know the procedures to follow if they are concerned about a colleague's conduct and are confident in the signs and symptoms that might indicate a child is at risk of abuse. The manager is the designated safeguarding lead. They understand the importance of working with professionals to support families and to monitor children's well-being, as required.

Effective recruitment processes are followed to ensure suitable staff work with 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 review hygiene routines to ensure necessary steps are taken to prevent the spread of infection, with particular regard to mealtimes 05/09/2023 improve the arrangements for developing staff's skills and knowledge, to raise the quality of education.05/09/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to recognise when to give children time and encouragement to think about and answer questions nextend strategies for helping children understand the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.