Tara Kindergartens

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children arrive happy and settle quickly at the nursery.

They have positive relationships with the staff, who are kind and caring. Children enjoy playing with their friends and behave well. They demonstrate their imaginations as they pretend to make cakes in the sand tray.

However, the quality of the teaching that children receive is variable. This hinders the progress that children can make. For example, staff ask pre-school age children to describe the texture of the ingredients during a cooking activity.

They praise children for saying 'hard' and 'soft'. However, staff do not introduce any new vocabulary to he...lp children extend the range of words that they know. They do not allow children to roll out the pizza dough independently or let them try grating the cheese.

Therefore, children miss out on learning new skills.Children know the daily routines and follow these well. For instance, children of all ages sit in their groups for circle time.

They join in with songs and counting activities. However, these large-group activities take too long. For example, the stories for babies and toddlers are too lengthy and complex.

Therefore, children become bored and distracted, which impacts on their attitudes to learning. That said, children enjoy being physically active and display energy and enthusiasm during movement sessions.

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

Staff speak positively about the support they receive from the manager and their colleagues.

The manager completes supervisions regularly and staff receive a variety of training. However, these are not focused enough on raising staff's overall performance and teaching skills. As a result, the quality of teaching is not good.

Although staff know their key children well, the curriculum is not coherent or suitably matched to children's stages of development and learning needs. For example, some staff focus on teaching children the alphabet, rather than on building their communication and language skills. At times, children's learning is incidental and they engage in activities without effective support from staff.

This does not help children to progressively build on what they know or to become enthusiastic learners.Staff complete the required progress checks for children when they are aged between two and three years. However, these lack detailed information about children's development, particularly where there are identified gaps or delays in what children can do.

This means that parents are not always clear about the support that their children need to catch up with their peers.Parents comment positively on the nursery. They find staff friendly and say that their children have become more confident and sociable since attending.

However, the manager and staff do not always liaise effectively with parents to promote children's learning. For instance, they do not help parents to understand the benefits of outdoor play. Therefore, staff sometimes prevent children from playing in the garden, because parents do not want them to go outdoors if it is cold or rainy.

The support for children's independence is inconsistent. Children learn to manage some aspects of their personal care independently. For example, older children use the toilet and wash their hands by themselves.

However, at mealtimes, staff serve and cut up children's food for them. Therefore, some children do not learn to use cutlery effectively or to pour their own drinks. This puts them at a disadvantage when starting school.

The manager is focused on making necessary improvements to the nursery. She uses their links with the local authority effectively, to identify weaknesses and develop staff practice. This has helped them to enhance the provision for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

For example, staff have introduced visual aids to help children with SEND follow the routines and make choices.Children follow good hygiene routines. For instance, they wash their hands at appropriate times and brush their teeth after lunch.

Children learn about making healthy food choices. They know that some foods contain a lot of sugar and are not a healthy option.Children understand the boundaries and expectations in the nursery and their behaviour is good.

They listen to staff and are kind and friendly towards others. Children enjoy being helpful and willingly assist with tasks such as tidying up after play.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff understand their responsibilities to safeguard children. They complete safeguarding training and regularly discuss a range of safeguarding matters to help strengthen their knowledge. This includes issues such as the risks from exposure to extreme views or domestic abuse.

Staff know how to identify the signs of child abuse. They are confident about what to do if they have a concern about a child's welfare or the conduct of a colleague. Staff supervise children effectively and assess the environment to remove and reduce potential hazards.

There are robust recruitment processes to help ensure staff's suitability.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date improve the monitoring of staff practice and provide all staff with effective support, supervision and training, to raise the quality of teaching to a consistently good level 15/09/2023 help staff to implement an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum, to support each child's individual learning needs effectively 15/09/2023 ensure that the required progress checks for children aged between two and three years include all of the necessary information, to give parents a clear idea of their children's development and any learning support they may need.15/09/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen further the partnerships with parents to ensure a shared approach to children's learning, including the benefits of outdoor play help staff to develop a consistent approach to supporting children's independence with their personal care.