Childcare Pathways

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The well-crafted curriculum meets the differing needs of all children. Activities provide all children with challenge regardless of the frequency of their attendance. Children are making good progress in their learning.

Staff support children's communication and language skills well. Children are confident talkers who are eager to start conversations and talk about what interests them, such as film characters. Children engage in activities that boost their physical and emotional well-being.

During the daily routine, staff encourage children to be active and aware of how exercise affects their bodies. Pilates sessions h...elp to support children's emotional and mental health as well as strengthening their muscles.Children's behaviour is consistently good and managed well by staff.

Children are respectful and kind towards each other and play together well. They test out their ideas and explore their identity in the safe and secure environment. Children are confident, articulate and able to express themselves well.

Throughout the day, children make choices about their learning and select from the wide range of toys and equipment available for them. They are becoming independent and capable of meeting their own personal needs. Older children are gaining skills and becoming ready for starting school.

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

Senior leaders have a thorough understanding about the nursery and are committed to improvement. The manager leads the nursery team with a strong sense of direction and efficiency. Together, they have effectively addressed the weaknesses raised at the previous inspection.

The setting has undergone significant improvement and staff show a strong capacity to continue to improve over time.Staff organisation and supervision is excellent. Each member of staff has clear objectives and are challenged to develop professionally.

Support for students encourages them to develop into confident and capable practitioners who take obvious pleasure in their work.Staff use creative and innovative ways to communicate with parents and share ideas to help them to support children's learning at home. Staff develop effective relationships with other professionals.

For example, they exchange information with the local children's centre to support families. However, there are not consistently productive relationships with every setting that children attend to help to provide all children with continuity in their learning.The quality of teaching is consistently high and staff are responsive and aware of children's interests.

This helps them to provide activities that excite children and sustain their motivation. Staff know children well and observe their progress, making accurate assessments about what will help to move their development forward.The daily routine works well.

Children have time to rest and relax, and be active. Sometimes, the physical-activity sessions are not organised well to encourage children to participate and take part without distractions.Staff support children to learn about numbers.

Together, they play the missing-number game where children practise counting numbers. Staff remove a number and children identify what number is missing. Children are confident in this, asking, 'Where has the two gone?' This shows their developing awareness of counting and number recognition.

Children arrive at the nursery enthusiastic and eager to learn. There are trusting and affectionate relationships between children and staff. Children hug staff's legs and they respond by ruffling their hair.

Young children gently trace their fingers over staff's faces as they become tired and stop to rest, cuddling up with the staff. These sensitive and gentle interactions help children to feel safe and secure.Children express their wants and needs.

They ask for staff to play music for them to dance to. Children say when they are hungry and thirsty. Staff manage children's dietary needs well.

Stringent routines are in place for dealing with food allergies to help keep children safe.Children benefit hugely from the community-centred approach of the nursery. They walk to their local shops with staff and visit parks and the organisation's farm.

Children enjoy meeting older members of the community in the drop-in sessions and learn about the natural world at the forest school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff know about the signs and symptoms that might indicate that children are at risk of harm.

They are aware of local and national child protection issues and the work of the local safeguarding partnership. Staff have extensive safeguarding training and there are clear lines for students and staff to report any concerns about children's welfare. Policies and procedures help to underpin staff's work and provide clear guidance.

Senior staff review accident records. Recent changes to the environment and staff's supervision of children has successfully reduced the number of minor accidents that children have in the nursery.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop more effective partnerships with other settings that children attend to provide greater continuity in children's learning norganise physical-activity sessions to maximise and encourage children's participation.