Kids Collective @ Bowdon

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements Children enter the breakfast club happily. They are greeted by friendly, familiar staff and quickly become engaged in conversation and activities.

This demonstrates that they feel secure. Staff plan experiences that help children to learn and develop. Children carefully wheel a dolls' pram around the busy room.

This promotes their physical development and coordination. Children talk about and enact what they already know about caring for babies. Staff listen to children and join in with the role play, helping children to build on and extend what they know about the world.

Children know the daily routine. They work... together to write the 'club rules' and know the high expectations for their behaviour. This helps everyone to establish a settled, purposeful atmosphere.

Some children play together. Some children spend the time before school absorbed in individual play or quiet reading. Children elect the members of the club's children's council.

Staff help council members to seek ideas from the group. One recent outcome was the purchase of a wider range of balls for sports and games. Children sometimes make decisions by voting.

This teaches children about fairness and democracy.

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

Leaders and staff receive supervision that promotes their professional development and improves the provision. Leaders observe staff's interactions with children and provide feedback that helps staff to continuously improve their performance.

Managers and staff say that they feel supported to develop their professional skills and knowledge. This reflects the provider's vision and ambition for everyone in the team.The leader describes clear intentions for what children experience at the club.

At breakfast time there is lively music, as children busily get ready for the day in school. After school, the music is gentler. This helps children to make a calm transition from school time to club time.

It demonstrates a caring attention to detail that helps children to feel welcome and valued.The key-person system is well developed. This particularly benefits younger children, who are settling into a new daily routine.

Key persons use information about children's interests. When children show an interest in dinosaurs, staff plan activities about dinosaurs. In another example, staff sensitively support children to leave 'comfort toys' at home, when they are ready.

Staff use their own skills and knowledge to promote everyone's learning. For example, they introduce children to paper folding. This improves children's hand-to-eye coordination, as they practise precision folding.

Children hear about the origins of the art. They learn about shape, fractions and angles while they create three-dimensional models.Staff, parents and carers share information that promotes children's welfare.

Staff who greet children at the door find out which children require breakfast. Breakfast time is carefully supervised. Staff guide children to make healthy choices.

Children learn to eat enough, but not too much.Staff skilfully incorporate learning into play activities. Children look closely at a play-dough cutter and think about what animal shape it is.

They decide it is a bird, but are not sure what sort of bird. Their ideas include 'penguin' and 'dove'. Staff playfully support the debate.

The conversation promotes children's confidence in putting forward suggestions. It adds to the number of words that children know and use.Children learn to think about and help other people.

They sell cakes to raise money for BBC Children in Need. They take part in activities associated with World Kindness Week. Staff help children to understand, relative to their age, that some people experience disability and disadvantage.

This encourages children to become compassionate and caring citizens.Parents like the varied activities for children of all ages. They welcome the opportunities that children have to mix with children from other classes and year groups.

Children comment that they like playing with their friends at the club. Parents particularly praise the staff's hard work and commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. They say that this helped them to feel reassured that children were safe.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Training in child protection matters is regular and effective. The provider checks that everyone knows and understands the safeguarding procedures.

Staff in the club and the school work together to protect children. They share relevant information, via a secure online system. They deliver consistent messages to children.

For example, children learn that 'no means no' and that speaking up about concerns is the best way to deal with them. Record keeping and organisation is excellent. The attendance register is kept constantly updated during club sessions.

Staff communicate effectively with parents, and with staff in school. When children of Reception age sustain an injury at the breakfast club, staff write the details in the class message book and telephone the parents. This helps everyone to promote children's safety and welfare.

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