Lincoln City Foundation After School Club

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements All children, including those who speak English as an additional language, are happy to greet staff at the end of their day at school.

Children confidently interact with visitors, explaining to them what they particularly enjoy doing in the club. This includes playing chess, football and gymnastics. They say that it is a 'great club'.

Children take an active part in developing the rules and boundaries. They tell visitors that they need to be kind to others. Children are given tasks to complete, helping to give them a sense of responsibility.

For example, they help to prepare snacks for their friends, such as cutti...ng up cucumber and preparing bread sticks and peppers. Children thoroughly enjoy the time they spend outdoors on the artificial grass football pitches. They copy staff and develop new skills, such as to put a ball in between their feet, jump and to flick it up behind them.

Children ask staff to time them when they make up games, such as to run for 20 seconds with their friends. Children show positive relationships with staff. They are keen to show staff what they can do, asking them to look when they spin a hoop around their bodies.

Indoors, children use their imagination and are creative. They use boxes, tape and scissors safely to construct, saying they are making a robot.

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

The manager and staff work closely with schools that children also attend.

They find out what children are learning during the day and complement this in the club. For example, when children learn about Chinese New Year at school, staff offer them activities to make dragons and envelopes to put money inside.Staff promote children's emotional well-being effectively.

When new children start attending, they spend time getting to know them. Staff provide resources that enable children to follow their interests, such as in toys they are familiar with at home.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well by staff.

For example, they work with parents to provide individual support to help children to feel emotionally secure when they meet staff at the end of their school day. Children are offered a safe space to go to calm down to help them to manage their emotions.Staff help children to learn how they can keep themselves safe.

For example, before leaving school, children are asked to remember the rules when they walk with staff to the club. Children say that they need to stay behind an adult and to walk on the path and not the grass. This helps children to understand what is expected of them.

The manager supports staff to extend their professional development. Recent in- house training helps staff to defuse behavioural and emotional situations that arise with children. Staff praise children for their achievements, helping to raise their self-esteem and confidence.

For example, they give them a 'high five' when they kick a ball into a football net.The manager and staff reflect on what they offer children. They have recently been able to offer children more variety in the range of fruits they have at snack time.

Parents say that they appreciate the range of snacks children are offered and this helps their children to try different foods to extend their diet.Staff ensure that children have daily opportunities to play outdoors to promote their well-being. During this time, they use their imagination and decide what games to play with their friends.

However, when children spend time indoors, they are not fully supported to make independent choices in their play. This means that they are not as well engaged as they are outdoors.Children are supported to understand when the routine in the club changes.

For example, staff give them a five minute warning before it is time to tidy-up toys to go indoors. Children who are less willing to help are encouraged by staff. For instance, they make it into a game and pretend to race with children to reach a toy they ask them to put away.

This encourages children to have a positive attitude to helping.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff understand their responsibilities to promote children's safety.

They know how to identify the signs and symptoms of abuse. This includes being able to recognise if children are being exposed to extreme views and beliefs. The manager and staff know where to report any concerns they have regarding children's welfare and safety.

Staff supervise children well and regularly count them when they move around the club's facilities. A member of staff who holds a paediatric first-aid qualification is always available to treat a child's medical needs quickly. If children are collected by other adults, the manager has procedures in place to ensure that permission from parents is gathered first.