Kids Clubs Family at St Philips

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements Staff create an inviting environment and plan a variety of activities that complement children's interests. For example, they provide ballot boxes for children to express their views on thought provoking questions, such as 'Do you think flies are useful to plants?' Staff skilfully encourage children to explain their reasoning behind an answer of 'no' or 'yes'. Some say 'maybe', and talk about positives and negatives.

These activities help to ignite children's curiosity and increase their critical thinking skills. Children show they feel safe, comfortable and secure. For instance, after their busy day at school, they choose to wrap ...up in blankets and rest or play indoors or outdoors with their friends.

Staff motivate children to talk about what they do at school and find out about any special events that occur. Children follow the positive example set by staff, showing compassion and kindness. For instance, they talk about wearing clothes of specific colours at school in support of a charity to help others.

Leaders and staff know all children well. They work closely with parents and class teachers to fully understand children's individual needs. This particularly helps new children settle quickly.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They actively involve children in making decisions, such as what activities they would like to play with. In addition, they devise important values for everyone at the club to follow.

These include respect, resilience, teamwork and courage, which are clearly evident in practice.

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

The highly qualified leaders demonstrate a strong vision for continuous enhancements to the club. They evaluate the setting by reflecting on their observations and seeking views from children, staff and parents.

This helps to improve their service. For instance, leaders identify the need for even greater consistency across staff's interactions with children. Regular supervisions with all staff ensure that their professional development needs are personalised, either through mentoring or training.

This is proving highly successful at building on their existing knowledge and improving their practice.Staff form loving and caring bonds with all children. They generously praise children's efforts, achievements and acts of kindness they show towards others.

Children love to share their art work and models, knowing the staff always respond with enthusiasm. Older children support younger ones in the same way. They patiently encourage them to try their best.

For example, older children wait in anticipation for younger children to use their fingers when adding together their scores in a game. They cheer when the younger ones arrive at the correct answer, saying 'You did it'. This helps to positively enhance children's self-esteem.

Staff plan ample opportunities for children to build their stamina and strength when taking part in physical activities. Children walk safely with staff from their school and play interesting games that require careful observation skills, such as spotting and counting different colours of cars. Children have fun in the outdoor area.

They participate in rolling balls precisely to knock over skittles, mastering riding tricycles and playing a variety of ball games. This helps children to learn the importance of being active and adopting healthy lifestyles.Staff help to develop children's independence when managing their own self-care needs.

Children show great understanding for the well-established routines, such as putting away their belongings and reminding each other to wash their hands thoroughly after their walk from school. At mealtimes, children choose healthy options from a selection of nutritious ingredients. They competently use a knife to spread butter on their naan breads.

Children thoroughly enjoy the nutritious and balanced meals.Staff enhance children's creative and imaginative skills well. For example, children of all ages make up role-play scenarios together, assigning each other various roles.

They keenly ask staff members to join in their play. Staff add different challenges to enhance children's play further. They support children to make their unique creations, such as paper flowers using a variety of media.

They then chat about spring and expand children's knowledge even more, for example the conditions plants need to grow. This supports children's understanding of the natural world.On the whole, leaders deploy their staff effectively to support children's care and enjoyment.

For example, during mealtimes, staff are present to encourage conversations with children on several topics of interest. However, occasionally, staff are taken away from these meaningful discussions midway to carry out other jobs, such as helping other staff cut more fruit for children. This interrupts children's opportunities to increase their existing knowledge further.

Staff build trusted relationships with parents and carers. Parents are highly complimentary about staff's personalised approach to their children's care needs. They talk about how much they value the friendly staff, the interesting activities on offer and how pleasing it is that their children eat nutritious meals.

Parents are fully informed of their children's time at the club and report that staff's feedback is helpful and always unique to their child.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.