New Forest Child Care Rowledge

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements Children enjoy their time at the club and are happy and well cared for.

Staff create a welcoming and safe environment where children can rest and relax after their day at school. Children talk excitedly about what has happened during the day, as staff listen to them, showing genuine interest in what they have to say. For instance, children excitedly talk about the Christmas play and what characters they are going to be.

This helps children to develop a sense of belonging and contributes to younger children settling happily.Staff promote children's good behaviour extremely well. They encourage children to think about rules ...that help to keep each other safe and promote the positive attitude in the club.

Children develop good friendships with one another. They say that they like coming to the club as they get to spend time with their friends. The relationships between the differing ages of children are a strength of the club.

Although there is a wide age range of children being cared for, all children demonstrate that they are at ease and happy in each other's company. For instance, they sit and read books, both independently and in groups. Older children are particularly keen to read to younger children as they take an interest in listening to the stories being read to them.

All children are kind, caring and attentive to each other's needs. This helps to ensure children gain good attitudes to developing their positive personal, social and emotional skills.

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

Staff plan a wide range of activities throughout the week to ensure that children benefit from a variety of play experiences.

Opportunities for children to play outside are supported well. For instance, children enjoy working out how to hide torches in boxes they create, as they discuss their designs together and make suggestions for their various constructions. However, sometimes, staff do not consider how to organise the inside environment to help children choose more independently from toys and resources, particularly when children first arrive at the start of the session.

Staff get to know children well and are attentive to their individual needs. Children are keen to take part in creative activities that staff plan for them and concentrate well. For instance, they learn how to mix ingredients to make salt dough Christmas decorations.

They experiment with how to make the mixture less runny and add spices as they talk excitedly about what each one smells like. Staff interact well with children and encourage them to keep on trying, to help children to persist and succeed at more difficult tasks.Children are cared for well.

Staff maintain a safe and secure environment for children to play and relax in. They ensure that children are supervised appropriately and take robust steps to keep children safe when they are playing in all areas of the club. For instance, staff supervise children as they play outside, to maintain their physical welfare.

Partnerships with parents are good. Staff, parents and children work together to consider how they make positive changes to the club. They complete regular evaluations of the club and use these to identify areas for further development.

Staff listen to children's ideas well, overall. For instance, children are involved in deciding what foods they would like to have at snack time. Parents comment on how staff have helped provide opportunities for children to spend some time during the week doing school homework, following parents' suggestions.

The manager and staff are a new team. They are enthusiastic in their roles and are keen to provide children and their families with good-quality after-school care. Staff work well together and are supported effectively by the senior management team.

Staff say they feel valued in their roles. They receive regular supervision and are encouraged to further develop their skills. For instance, staff access training online and share best practice with each other.

Staff have good partnerships with the local school. They work closely with them to support children and to ensure continuity between school, the club and parents.Staff help children to learn about good hygiene routines and how to keep themselves safe.

They provide children with a wide variety of foods at snack time and encourage children to develop some independence skills. However, sometimes, staff do not consider how to develop younger children's ability to manage some of these routines for themselves. For instance, staff do not teach some children how to use knives to spread butter, or provide opportunities for them to pour their own drinks.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff benefit from training to ensure they have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe. This helps to ensure that all staff have a robust knowledge of how to identify any child protection concerns, including from extreme views or behaviours.

Staff know how to report concerns, following their robust procedures, to help maintain children's physical welfare. The management team implements procedures for recruitment and vetting to ensure that staff are continually suitable to work with children. It completes risk assessments to ensure the premises are safe for children and supports them to understand how to stay safe.

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