Early Years Centre At Staghills

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children demonstrate high levels of curiosity and motivation as they explore the enchanting learning environments. Babies uses small muscles in their hands to explore a den filled with sensory stimulating resources.

They use good hand-to-eye coordination to attempt to stack the exciting objects they find. Staff provide strong support for children's emotional well-being. They are kind, sensitive and caring to children.

Outdoors, children learn about the awe and wonder of the world. They visit local woodland areas and allotments and learn about the different sounds, sights and smells within the world around them. ...Staff support toddlers to take safe risks.

Staff offer their hand to toddlers as they balance across a purpose-built bridge and jump into puddles. They squeal with delight as they splash in water.Toddlers demonstrate high levels of concentration.

They listen attentively at group times and wait patiently for their turn when playing games. Staff implement routines and boundaries very well. This helps to promote children's exceptional behaviour.

For example, toddlers gather individual mats to sit on before group time activities and tidy them away once finished. Children demonstrate a sense of belonging, participate with high levels of engagement and are confident to have a go. Children copy staff as they introduce a wide range of new words such as 'poke', 'pat' and 'pull'.

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

The inspirational manager is also the headteacher of the on-site maintained nursery school and is an expert in the field of early years. She works closely with the strong leadership team to meticulously develop a shared vision of the setting which is truly astounding. The manager places high priority on the well-being of the staff.

For example, she ensures that staff are happy and settled at work through regular supervisions, well-being checks and reward schemes.Staff report that children are at the centre of everything they do. They work closely with parents right from the start and develop strong and trusting relationships.

Parents report that children are valued, settle quickly, make fast rates of progress and thoroughly enjoy their time at the setting. The manager includes the views of children, parents and staff in the highly effective development plans.Staff use their expertise and excellent understanding of all children to develop a curriculum that is highly focused on what each child needs to learn to make the very best progress.

The manager monitors progress made by individual and groups of children with precision. She acts swiftly to address any gaps in children's learning to further support children who are falling behind. All children become well prepared for the next phase of their learning.

Teaching is highly effective. All staff are highly skilled and qualified and a number of them hold post-graduate qualifications. Their knowledge and expertise are evident within this high-quality setting.

The manager puts strong emphasis on the continuous professional development of staff. She researches child development in the early years and further trains all staff. For example, they have completed more in-depth research into heuristic play and creative play for babies.

Toddlers learn to move in a range of ways as they explore sand, water and clay. They watch themselves in large mirrors and they stamp, smear and stir. They delight in its feel and gasp in amazement as it changes colour when paint is added.

Staff skillfully follow children's lead to help support their learning to the optimum level. They weave all areas of learning into the daily learning opportunities, while valuing the uniqueness of each child. For example, staff help to develop children's outstanding early mathematic skills.

Toddlers use their high levels of imagination as they pretend to feed toy animals real carrots. Staff join in with children's learning experiences and encourage them to count the carrots. Toddlers are able to count to three, name a range of animals and say the sounds they make.

The manager and staff team have worked closely to develop a comprehensive reading strategy. The staff develop interesting displays of children's favourite books and stories. Children take home bags filled with a book and exciting story props.

This has helped to significantly increase children's love of reading, as well as engaging parents to promote reading at home. Children thoroughly enjoy the regular songs, stories and rhymes that are built into the well-planned routines.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff demonstrate sound understanding of the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is more vulnerable to risk of abuse. Staff are familiar with their role and responsibility to keep children safe. Staff access regular training to ensure their knowledge is current.

They know the appropriate procedures should they have concerns about members of staff. The premises are secure and there are close monitoring procedures at arrival and departure times. Robust recruitment procedures, thorough induction processes and ongoing suitability checks help to ensure that the most suitable staff are recruited.

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