Kids 1st - Low Fell

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children attend nursery with enthusiasm. They play together happily and are well looked after. Staff create a caring and nurturing environment, enabling children to settle quickly and to establish good routines for learning.

Older children join in music and movement activities. This includes listening and responding to music. Children use their physical skills to move their bodies in various ways, including tapping and stomping their feet.

Children hold hands with one another as they recreate the movements made by the characters in the story. They shout out repeated words and phrases. Children tiptoe quietly and preten...d to look for the bear in the nursery garden.

They then squeal and jump excitedly when staff shout that they have seen the bear. Babies and toddlers develop strength and coordination as they freely move around the room. Babies learning to walk use low-level furniture to pull themselves up to a standing position.

Toddlers find endless fascination as they explore a tray of flour. They use spoons to scoop up the flour and fill containers before emptying them and starting over. Staff are close by to offer support.

They talk to toddlers about what they are doing, introducing new words to help extend their language.

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

The curriculum is well planned and ambitious. It prepares children well for their future learning.

Leaders and staff know what they expect all children to learn and remember. Activities reflect children's interests, and children engage well in all activities on offer. They listen and respond to questions and talk about what it is that they are playing with.

Staff support children's personal, social and emotional well-being. They help children to make seamless transitions into nursery. Staff use puppets and mirrors during small-group activities with young children.

They talk to children as they play and label different emotions. However, staff do not always help older children to understand how their feelings and behaviours impact on others.Staff promote children's good health.

They help children to understand that if they run around, march and stomp their bodies will get warm. Staff support children to clean their hands before they eat. The nursery chef provides children with freshly cooked, home-made meals and snacks every day.

This helps to ensure they have a healthy and well-balanced diet. Children sit together at mealtimes, demonstrating good social skills and table manners. Staff working with babies follow the individual children's home routines, including regular nappy changes and sleep times.

All children show a real interest in books. Younger children listen attentively, while older children name the characters from previously read stories. Children enjoy drawing and being creative.

Older children describe their paintings in detail, for example, 'This is a swirly, swirly windstorm'. Staff take every opportunity to promote children's early writing, for example by making sure they can access mark-making resources freely. Older children make good attempts to write their name and write for a purpose as they record their names on their artwork.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress in their learning given their starting points and capabilities. Partnerships with other professionals are good. Staff encourage regular two-way communication to support all children and seek professional support from other agencies when additional concerns are identified.

The manager regularly observes staff's practice. She offers them constructive feedback on ways to further improve the quality of their interactions with children. On the whole, this is successful.

However, not all targets for staff development are focused sharply enough on helping them raise their teaching practice to the highest standard.Partnerships with parents are good. During the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, staff kept in regular touch with families.

They provided a range of ideas for parents to help with their children's learning at home. Parents describe the staff as kind and caring. They comment on the high levels of progress their children have made since starting the nursery.

Parents appreciate the detailed information staff share with them about their child's learning and development, including what they are working on next.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are aware of safeguarding issues which might affect children in their care.

They attend regular training and understand the signs and symptoms that could indicate a child is at risk of harm or abuse. Staff know the dangers posed to children from extreme views and behaviours and how to report their concerns. They have a clear understanding of what to do if an allegation is made against a member of staff or they have concerns about a colleague's conduct.

The manager follows safer recruitment procedures when employing staff. This helps to ensure that staff are suitable for their roles.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: consistently implement the curriculum for personal, social and emotional development, with specific regard to supporting children to understand the impact of their behaviour on others strengthen the arrangements for monitoring staff performance so that areas identified for development are swiftly addressed and improvement levels are sustained.

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