Kids Planet Harrogate

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff follow children's interests and extend children's learning in areas they chose to play in.

For instance, toddlers show enjoyment as they splash in the water and staff extend conversations to develop toddlers' vocabulary. Young children enjoy experimenting with containers as staff teach them about mathematical concepts, such as full and empty. Older children are engrossed in mark-making activities and staff encourage them to paint the dinosaur feet to make tracks.

Staff are good role models for children and encourage them to be kind and caring towards each other. They know children well and provide a good balance ...of challenge and support to help them make progress. Children's behaviour is positive, and they begin to develop an awareness of social boundaries and expectations.

Since the pandemic, staff continue to focus on supporting children's speech and language development. They consistently use opportunities to model new vocabulary during activities and children's self-chosen play. In addition, staff have all received training to help them complete specific assessments to evaluate children's communication and language skills.

This helps them to make swift referrals and provide tailored support in the nursery while they await help from other professionals. Gaps in children's learning begin to close. Parents leave positive feedback about their experiences and their children's learning.

They say that they feel their children are safe and supported here and that staff communicate very well with them. This helps them to feel involved and included in their children's learning.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and interesting for children.

Staff are clear on what they want to teach children and use information from assessments to help them plan activities. Children develop secure foundations for future learning and staff quickly identify areas where children may need further support. Staff have a clear focus on supporting children's communication and language development.

The leadership team and staff have worked hard to ensure that children in pre-school are well prepared for the next stages in their learning. Staff speak to teachers in schools to ensure that they are helping children develop the right skills they will need before they start. They communicate this information to parents to promote continuity.

Children enjoy some focused-group activities and take turns to 'stir the soup' as they think about which words rhyme. This helps them to develop their concentration and listening skills.Overall, children show good levels of concentration and focus on developing new skills.

They are keen to join in with activities and show enjoyment in learning. However, at times, staff do not focus their teaching and attention on some children who are quieter in the group. On occasion, these children wander around activities and resources, as opposed to engaging in purposeful learning.

Children have good relationships with their key person and other members of staff. They show confidence in asking them for help and benefit from being with staff who are kind, caring and nurturing towards them. Staff meet children's care needs effectively and provide parents with detailed information on children's meals, sleep and toileting.

Overall, children are happy and settled in the nursery.However, on the day of the inspection, babies and toddlers shared one room due to lower numbers in the nursery. In addition, staff in this room focused on completing routine tasks before lunch, while children were still playing and exploring.

Both aspects hindered children's learning and levels of engagement at this time and the environment became chaotic, resulting in some children becoming upset.In contrast, staff use consistent behaviour management strategies across the nursery. They talk to children about using 'kind hands' and 'kind feet' and consistently praise children for their efforts and positive behaviours.

Staff support children to share and purposefully use less resources in activities to promote turn-taking. Children make good progress in their personal, social and emotional development, which parents state they are particularly pleased with.Partnerships are very positive.

For example, new children attend flexible settling-in visits. The manager welcomes staff into the nursery from other settings to share information about how to meet their specific needs. The manager and staff team are passionate about working closely with children's families.

They provide a range of home-learning experiences and activities for families to take home.The leadership team shows dedication and commitment to providing good standards of care and learning for children. There is a clear vision for continual improvement.

The company has a team to support staff in their work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff say they feel valued in the nursery and benefit from regular supervisions to help them develop their practice. There is a strong focus on promoting staff's positive emotional well-being.

Safeguarding

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

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: focus staff's teaching for children who are quieter members in the group to ensure that they are also supported in their learning nensure that staff are consistently aware of, and focus on, young children's level of engagement and their emotional well-being.

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