Freshwater Early Years Centre

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and settled and behave well.

There are high expectations for children to achieve and make the best possible progress. They are active learners, particularly outdoors. They fill watering cans and are fascinated by the marks they make when they pour it onto the ground and make patterns with the water.

Children persist with activities they enjoy. During the inspection, they showed great excitement when they made toy cars travel down slopes. creating a splash as they land in a water tray.

Children confidently make choices and decisions during their play. For instance, they decide to collect the ...small stones they find in sand and earth in the garden and transfer them into containers which they use for imaginative play. Children learn to use small blocks to make designs and tell staff they have made castles.

Children develop the skills they need for the future. They learn to embrace challenges when they use the large wooden climbing apparatus, and to judge their own abilities. Children develop the confidence to climb to the top of the apparatus, asking for support when they need to climb down.

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

Children are provided with an ambitious curriculum, particularly when they play outdoors. They are motivated to explore and learn, making good progress from their starting points. However, staff do not consistently adapt activity planning when different age groups play together.

This means that sometimes the younger children do not benefit from the activities as well as the older children.The manager has a good knowledge and understanding of her role and responsibilities as the special educational needs coordinator. She communicates well with parents, staff and other agencies to meet children's individual needs.

For instance, speech therapists who visit the setting give staff ideas which they use to reduce gaps in children's language development.Staff are positive role models. They patiently manage children's behaviour and encourage them to share the resources, take turns and play together cooperatively.

Staff set clear expectations with children. For example, they use picture cards and simple words to help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) understand what is expected of them.The manager does not consistently coach and support staff to help them challenge younger children's learning when they engage with self-chosen activities indoors.

Despite this, children are motivated to explore the activities and resources. During the inspection, younger children enjoyed making designs using building blocks, and confidently told staff they had created castles.Staff support children's language development well.

During the inspection, they skilfully encouraged older children to share what they knew and understood. Children talked confidently about the school they will be moving to in September, and their recent visit to meet the teachers. Staff responded to what the children said, introducing learning that linked to other areas of the curriculum and extending children's learning further, during discussions about the moon, for example.

Since the last inspection, the manager has responded to changes in the learning and development requirements. For instance, she has significantly reduced the amount of documentation staff are expected to complete to help reduce staff workload.Staff support children's independence well.

They encourage them to look after their belongings, including their packed lunch boxes, and attend to their personal care needs.Staff provide good one-to-one support for children with SEND, who are fully included in all activities. However, staff have not established communication with other early years settings that children also attend to further support continuity in their learning and development.

Staff know all the children well which helps them to meet their individual needs, including times when their key person is absent. They develop positive relationships with children and treat them with kindness and respect.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures. They have completed safeguarding training and know what to do if they are concerned about a child's well-being and safety. The designated safeguarding lead understands her responsibility to make referrals to other agencies and notify Ofsted if a concern is received about a child or member of staff.

Staff risk assess activities and outings effectively to keep children safe. They supervise children well in the setting and when they take older children swimming and on outings to a local forest.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: further improve the planning, implementation and evaluation of the learning environment so that younger children are consistently provided with activities that are appropriate to their age and stage of development and a broader curriculum when they play indoors coach and support staff to consistently extend, challenge and evaluate younger children's learning when they play with self-chosen activities consider ways to further improve partnership with other early years settings that children attend to support continuity in children's learning and development.

Also at this postcode