Chestnut House Kindergarten

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and feel safe in this welcoming, homely setting.

Staff provide a nurturing environment which values the uniqueness of each child. Parents praise the 'friendly, professional' staff and how well they know their children. They talk about the increased confidence, social skills and general strong progress of their children and how much they enjoy attending.

Children demonstrate high levels of engagement and concentration. They listen intently to staff and are eager to take part in games and group activities.Children behave well and exhibit positive social skills from an early age.

For instance, ...they know how to use timers to share resources. Older children ask staff to help them to negotiate the use of popular resources, such as capes, by using timers. Children are affectionate towards their friends and often hug them happily.

Staff encourage children to persevere with difficult tasks and recognise children's continued efforts. They recognise and celebrate children's achievements gleefully. Staff plan appropriate and challenging activities to help children to move on to the next stage in their learning.

Children explore a wealth of mark-making opportunities to develop their early literacy skills. They carefully hold pens, chalks and paintbrushes. Children use delicate movements to create precise marks on paper.

They focus intently on their work. Babies delight in touching the sensory wall displays. Older children are proud to point out their works of art on the 'masterpieces' display.

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

Self-evaluation is effective and includes the views of parents and children. The manager works with staff to define areas for focus and to further improve learning outcomes for children. Recent requests from parents to enhance home learning ideas has resulted in the introduction of home learning bags and a book library.

Children delight in choosing a book to take home each day.The well-qualified staff are skilled in helping children to develop their speech and language skills. They tell stories with great enthusiasm and make good use of props such as puppets and small-world toys, to play sound games.

This helps to keep children interested and excited. Staff introduce five new words each month, such as 'winch' and 'brave', which reflect children's interests in construction play and conversations about their feelings.Children are provided with a wide range of healthy meals and snacks.

Staff work with parents to plan a week of culturally diverse dishes every month. Staff also invite visitors to the setting, including authors, traditional dancers and police officers, to help to expand children's understanding and appreciation of the wider world.Staff use timers to provide children with visual cues about time.

They use a timer effectively to let children know how long it is until tidy-up or garden time. This helps children to develop an understanding of time and supports them to respond positively to transitions in routine.From an early age, children learn to manage their self-care needs appropriately and become more independent.

Toddlers learn to wash their hands thoroughly. Children serve themselves rice, curry and vegetables using large spoons.Staff coach children effectively through any big or overwhelming emotions.

They teach children about the impact of their actions and encourage them to think of ways to make amends if they have been unkind. Staff use golden rules, including having kind hands and listening ears, to communicate clear expectations for behaviour.Children relish spending time in the garden.

They play an energetic game of 'hide the ball'. Children try hard not to peek, and focus on copying staff's actions energetically as another hides the ball. Children understand the rules and are eager to begin the search.

However, some outdoor resources, such as sand, are limited. This prevents children from engaging with or exploring the materials fully.Overall, staff have good training opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge.

However, supervision and support arrangements are not fully effective in identifying specific areas for individual professional development.Staff make good use of opportunities to develop children's mathematical understanding. They model key vocabulary as children create a slope to race toy cars.

Staff encourage children to make predictions and draw comparisons between the cars. Children talk about 'heavy' cars going 'faster' and how some 'lose their balance' and topple over the edge.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know the signs that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. They understand how to identify and report concerns about the welfare of a child or the behaviour of an adult. The manager ensures staff keep their knowledge up to date through regular training.

When appointing new staff, the provider and the manager follow thorough recruitment processes to assure themselves that staff are suitable. They also conduct ongoing termly checks of staff's suitability by using the Disclosure and Barring Service's update service.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and develop further the availability of resources to help children to explore and engage with a range of materials to extend their learning nenhance supervision arrangements to precisely identify individual development needs and target support and coaching to raise practice to the highest levels.