KOOSA Kids After School Club at St Michaels Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements Children are happy, settled and report that they enjoy the time they spend at the club. On arrival, they quickly become engaged in activities that interest them. For instance, they spend long periods drawing pictures of themselves and their families.

Other children carefully cut shapes from paper and create a collage using these. Children play well alongside their friends. They are happy to share, take turns and help others when needed.

Children talk with confidence about their previous experiences, such as a nurse coming to visit them at school. They explain that the nurse talked to them about how she cares for poorly peo...ple. Children also enthusiastically talk about the reading challenges they have at school.

They describe that they need to colour in part of a racing track each time they read a book. When they complete the challenge, they receive a sticker and a certificate. Children are polite, kind, and thoughtful.

When they want to play with toys that others have, they ask, 'please can I have that when you have finished'. They recognise the importance of being kind to others and can confidently explain what an act of kindness looks like. For instance, helping someone if they fall over and hurt themselves.

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

Overall, staff interact well with children. They have positive strategies to encourage children to listen to others. For instance, they use a 'talking toy' to indicate whose turn it is to talk.

Older children talk with enthusiasm about the activities they enjoyed doing at the weekend, such as their hobbies. Other children, ask interesting questions, such as what inspired them to take up different hobbies. However, on occasion, younger children are not given the same levels of opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas as older children.

This results in some children becoming distracted and losing interest in the activity.Children have a good understanding of the club rules. They know they must sit at the table for meals, as if they walk around with food in their mouths they might choke.

However, although children can confidently describe the rules, on occasion, they do not always follow these. For instance, they occasionally run indoors, despite one of the rules being using 'walking feet' inside.Children respond quickly to instructions from staff.

For instance, when staff say, 'when I say Koosa, you say…' - the children enthusiastically say 'kids'. Children know that this means they must stop what they are doing and listen to staff. These positive strategies help children to keep safe, such as in the event of an emergency evacuation.

The setting promotes children's overall well-being effectively, such as ensuring they have adequate fresh air and exercise and make healthy food choices. Children learn about the importance of washing their hands at appropriate times. Staff provide children with healthy snacks and children demonstrate a good understanding of the importance of making healthy food choices.

Partnerships with parents and schools' children attend are effective. The club staff communicate effectively with them to ensure continuity in children's care. Parents report that their children are happy and settled within the club.

They are confident that children are safe and secure.Children enjoy the time they spend outdoors and have plenty of opportunity to be active, such as using climbing apparatus, skipping, and playing football. They demonstrate great physical skills as they climb across apparatus with confidence and ease.

Leaders make good use of annual appraisals to help monitor staff performance. They encourage staff to continue their professional development to help develop their skills further. Leaders have been proactive in reflecting on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the setting.

They have identified staff training and support as an area of ongoing development. Therefore, they have employed a training coordinator to help identify and close the gaps in staff knowledge and skills.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and managers use robust recruitment procedures to ensure all staff are suitable to work with children. The setting has a comprehensive induction and safeguarding policy to ensure staff are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities. Staff have a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms that may indicate that the child is at risk of harm, including wider safeguarding issues such as female genital mutilation, grooming and exploitation.

Staff are confident about who to report concerns to, including concerns about their colleagues. Leaders ensure that staff regularly update their knowledge on current safeguarding issues. Managers and staff complete regular checks on the environment to help them to identify and eliminate any risks.

Also at this postcode