Mighty Oaks Little Acorns Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive keen and eager to start their day. Staff cheerfully greet children and their families, helping children to be confident and to settle quickly to begin learning.Leaders and staff have a good understanding of children's needs and past experiences.

They use this to provide a curriculum based on what children need to learn next. Leaders and staff focus on helping children to develop their language and to be confident and sociable. Staff working with the youngest children help them to build strong and secure attachments so that children are happy andsecure in the nursery.

Staff working with the toddlers focu...s on supporting children's listening skills and promoting their language development. The oldest children develop independence and an eagerness to explore and learn. Staff help older children to understand their emotions so that they can express themselves appropriately and understand how others around them may be feeling.

Overall children behave well, they know the routines and they listen and follow instructions. Staff support children to share and to take turns with the resources. Children form warm relationships with the staff and good friendships with their peers.

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

Leaders and staff work very well as a team with a shared passion for providing children with good quality experiences. Staff are very well supported in their roles, they evaluate their own skills and are keen to learn. Leaders are aware of the needs of staff and support these well, recognising that staff need to be happy and secure to enable them to carry out their roles effectively.

Leaders closely observe staff practice. They have identified that some staff need more support with extending children's learning during planned activities. This is something that needs to be developed further to help all children make the best possible progress.

Partnerships with parents are very strong, parents report that their children are happy and well cared for. They state that staff are good at sharing information and keeping them informed about their children's progress. Parents are made to feel welcome and part of the nursery.

For instance, leaders work closely with parents to offer workshops to support children's development. Some parents take on the role of 'parent champion' to support other parents within the nursery with matters such as, special educational needs and or disabilities (SEND) and community issues.Leaders and staff place a high focus on supporting older children to develop good communication and language skills.

Staff act as good role models as they model language and encourage children to talk about what interests them. Leaders create focussed times to support children who speak English as an additional language to develop their confidence and their vocabulary further.Children of all ages benefit from lots of fresh air and exercise.

Leaders have developed the outdoor space to recognise that children need opportunities to run and be physical. Older children enjoy playing ball games and chasing the staff around the garden. Younger children chase bubbles and make cakes in the mud kitchen.

Staff talk to children about wearing their hats to keep themselves safe from the sun, and they remind children that they need to drink more when it is hot.Children enjoy listening to stories and exploring books. They access books independently and staff sit with children to share stories and talk about the characters involved.

Staff plan activities linked to traditional tales from around the world to spark children's curiosity and to engage them in learning about culture. Children confidently talk about what happens in the story as they act it out in their play.Leaders and staff swiftly identify gaps in children's learning and the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and other professionals to provide children with support.

The SENCo refers children to other professionals and puts strategies in place for children to help them to make better progress. Staff are aware of children's needs and support their emotional well-being. However, they are not consistent at using the strategies in place to help the youngest children to with SEND to communicate their needs.

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: provide some staff with the support needed, to help them to recognise how to extend children's learning even further support staff working with the youngest children, to implement the strategies in place more consistently to help children to communicate their needs.