Sure Steps Derby Lane

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

From the baby room upwards, children demonstrate confidence and emotional security. Children communicate confidently with each other, staff and visitors. Staff plan a broad and interesting range of activities based on children's interests.

They identify any gaps in children's knowledge and skills and address these quickly. They work closely with parents and other professionals where children have or may have special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, all children are given the opportunity to achieve well.

Children demonstrate good behaviour, self-care and social skills. Staff remind children of expecte...d behaviours, such as using kind hands. They purposefully plan games that require turn taking and sharing to help children learn these skills.

Children enjoy looking at books in comfy areas of each room and listening to stories read well by staff. Some stories about calendar events, including Diwali and Chinese New Year, help children to learn about people with a variety of faiths and cultures. Children talk about their favourite fruits and the health benefits of foods while eating lunch.

They handle fresh produce, such as potatoes and broccoli, and talk about how it grows while playing imaginatively.

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

Recently, the provider notified Ofsted of an incident where a child was checked at hospital having accessed some sterilising solution. This meant they met their responsibility to notify Ofsted of significant events.

Following this the risk assessment and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health procedures have been improved, staff retrained on them and substances are kept out of children's reach.Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staffing, leaders and managers work closely with staff, so they feel supported. They have a clear understanding of each staff member's strengths and focus on their individual development during regular supervision meetings.

Staff increasingly share what they learn from training with each other. Currently, this is how to assess children's speech and language skills and how to support children who speak English as an additional language.Staff gather and make good use of information from parents to meet the emotional needs of each child.

Parents are kept well informed about their child's day and ongoing development. Children take home learning bags with activities to complete with their parents. This helps to support continuity in each child's learning.

Staff obtain detailed information about children's dietary requirements before they start and keep this information up to date. They agree health care plans with parents where children have a specific condition. Each mealtime, a staff member, identified as a dietary monitor, checks that children only receive food appropriate for their dietary needs.

This helps to ensure children's dietary needs are met well.Children develop well physically. Babies have plenty of space to crawl and to learn to walk.

They enjoy handling a range of sensory items, such as wooden plates and pinecones. In the garden, older children walk across planks and move their arms and legs copying the actions of staff. Activities, such as these help children to develop balance and coordination.

Staff skilfully organise fun activities, which help children to develop their communication and language skills. They purposefully introduce new vocabulary and mathematical language as children play. For example, children display an understanding of positional language, such as 'in front' and 'behind' as they search for a hoop hidden in the outdoor area.

Children who speak more than one language are increasingly well supported. Staff ask parents to provide some key words in their home language, so children can hear and use these to support their sense of self and further support their learning of English.Children enjoy many opportunities to make marks and practise early writing.

These include crayoning on paper and making marks with brushes in sand. Some of children's emergent writing is displayed on the wall. However, the curriculum for literacy development is less well sequenced than other areas.

Staff try to teach pre-school children letter sounds. However, not all staff are appropriately trained to support children through play activities. Consequently, there are inconsistencies with how they are delivered.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and refine the literacy curriculum, making sure it is fully age-appropriate and builds on children's prior skills nembed the newly implemented procedures for risk assessment to ensure consistency of practice.