Little Hearts

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

The passionate providers, manager and staff all contribute to the inspiring and highly challenging curriculum. Children make excellent progress and are more than ready for school. They enter with great enthusiasm and eagerly play within the safe and unique learning environments.

Children show great interest in role play in the child-sized fitted kitchens that reflect differing family backgrounds. Staff meticulously plan for children's care, learning and interests, in excellent consultation with parents.Children show exceptional confidence while investigating a wealth of materials and natural objects, using all of their s...enses.

Older children express ideas with animation while making perfumes and potions. They use petals, food colourings and flavourings such as mint, and show deep levels of engagement while experimenting. Younger children listen with intrigue to the noise that rice makes when they shake containers.

They giggle as the sand tickles their bare feet while exploring in the large, exciting indoor sandpit, designed by the nursery owners. Children form exceptionally strong emotional attachments with all staff, who warmly welcome families. Children proudly show off their costumes and parents enjoy staying with their children for a wonderful story session as part of World Book Day.

Staff develop extremely good relationships which help to support children's exemplary behaviour and friendships. Children express their feelings, for instance through choosing pebbles that illustrate emotions and the 'How Do You Feel Today?' chart.

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

Staff's qualifications have a positive impact on their motivating, high-quality teaching.

Staff strongly promote children's communication skills. For instance, they use knowledge from their training to provide excellent narrative and introduce story spoons and singing bags. Staff make up fun songs as children play in the enthralling outdoor kitchen and explain why flowers absorb water.

Boys use impressive vocabulary, such as when they say 'carnivore' and 'herbivore'.Performance management, training and support for staff is rigorous and self-evaluation tools and improvement plans are robust.The manager diligently monitors children's progress, achievement gaps and areas of developmental delay.

This leads to comprehensive action plans and superior early support interventions. Staff celebrate each child's uniqueness.Staff deepen children's knowledge through arranging interesting visitors and outings.

Children excitedly recall their walk to the hospital where the paramedic showed them around an ambulance. Staff capture children's adventures in booklets illustrated with photographs.Children freely access outdoor play.

This facilitates their learning styles and interests wonderfully, such when they find tiny wriggling worms in the intriguing bug hunt area. Children use excellent language while sharing ideas in the make-believe construction site. They manoeuvre boxes, bamboo tubes, wood and tyres and wear safety gloves while using hammers.

Parents are inspired to support children's learning. They borrow books, celebrate special events and attend courses and extensive stay-and-play sessions. Staff also provide resource packs, such as one for making musical instruments to teach rhythm and rhyme.

Children show outstanding independence. At snack time, they choose their snack items and chop up fruit. Staff enthusiastically suggest planting the apple seeds in the harvesting area.

They provide nose-wiping stations with mirrors, tissues and pictures, to support younger children.Staff use initial home visits to develop trusting relationships with families. Children's continued well-being is monitored closely.

The manager has gained a qualification in supporting children's mental health.Children have superior opportunities to be physically active and learn about healthy living. They have weekly football sessions and use challenging equipment, such as a rope swing and ladder, balancing planks and a small-scale climbing wall.

They visit the dentist and explore a skeleton with a nurse.Children develop a wide range of mathematical skills. Younger children work together to fill up a huge metal sieve with sand.

Staff provide words such as 'heavy', and children add water to the sand to make models. Older children skilfully hang transporting resources on large wooden scales to compare the weight of objects.Children develop excellent small-muscle strength in readiness for writing.

They manipulate resources in the 'finger gym' area and staff encourage younger children to use their strong fingers while exploring dough. Older children show impressive literacy skills, such as using laminated word cards to make up a story. Children paint intricate pictures in the exciting 'creation station' and look at photograph booklets about the schools they are moving on to.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Comprehensive safeguarding policies and procedures underpin staff's first-rate practice. There are rigorous systems for recruiting staff to ensure their suitability.

Staff have excellent understanding of the indicators of abuse and how to report concerns. Alongside updating training they are subject to regular knowledge assessments. Staff undertake meticulous risk assessments to ensure children's safety both on and off the premises.

The stringent monitoring of access to the nursery is enhanced, for example, through the camera entry system. Staff display essential safeguarding information in the entrance. Following a visit from the police, staff distributed information to promote car seat safety to parents.