Promise Childcare

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are eager to join in with play as soon as they arrive at this small and homely nursery. Older children quickly say goodbye to their parents, put on their indoor shoes and take part in activities with their friends.

Children feel safe and secure. They freely choose from the wide variety of resources available to them both indoors and outdoors. Children are confident communicators.

They introduce themselves to visitors without hesitation and tell them about their play.Staff have high expectations for children's learning. They provide children with opportunities to think and solve problems.

For example, ...during water play, they ask children how they could make more lava appear from their pretend water-bottle volcanoes. The children beam with delight as they discover that shaking the bottle vigorously creates a 'really big volcano'.Children are learning how to become independent and are encouraged to try and do things for themselves.

Staff give children time to have a go themselves, particularly when putting on outdoor shoes and washing their hands after painting. Children display a positive attitude towards their learning. Their behaviour is good and they listen to instructions well.

Staff encourage older children to express their emotions and to think of ways of handling conflict amicably.

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

The manager is committed to providing good-quality care and education for all children. She knows her staff well and has procedures in place for their professional development.

The manager has developed strong relationships with the local schools, and children take part in taster visits and other activities with the older children. This helps children to become secure and comfortable within the school environment and they are well prepared for their transition to school.Staff gather information about children's time at home and plan activities to broaden their experiences.

For example, they regularly take children on walks to explore the local community, and they encourage children to jump in puddles on rainy days. The manager has positive relationships with a local care home. Children visit the residents with staff and take part in singing and craft sessions.

This helps the children grow in confidence and develop an understanding of people who are different from themselves.Staff know their key children well. They understand what they enjoy and plan learning activities based around these interests.

However, the written system used to plan children's learning can sometimes be overly burdensome. This does not always help staff to use their good knowledge to reflect on children's achievements and plan what they want children to learn next.Staff interactions with children are positive.

Staff model language well, repeating back words and helping children to form sentences. However, not all staff use all the opportunities available to them to develop and extend children's next steps in learning.Parents speak highly of the staff and the caring environment they provide for the children.

They feel that staff are friendly and approachable. Parents value the regular communication about their children's time at nursery. However, staff do not consistently share information about children's learning and development and provide ideas of how learning can be extended at home.

Staff provide a calm atmosphere for children to play and learn in. Children are busy and engaged in activities and their behaviour is good. They receive lots of praise and encouragement.

This helps children to keep trying and builds good levels of self-esteem.Children's health and physical development are promoted well. Staff provide healthy, nutritionally balanced meals and snacks which the children enjoy.

Children are active. They enjoy running around in the outdoor play area and dancing to songs inside. In addition, external visitors run weekly sessions such as music and movement and sports coaching.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and her staff team have a good understanding of the procedures to follow should they have concerns about a child's welfare. They have attended recent safeguarding training to support them in recognising the possible signs and symptoms of abuse.

The manager displays safeguarding information to remind everybody of their duty to report concerns and who to report these to. Staff make regular checks of the learning environment to ensure it is a safe place for the children to play.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: help staff to reduce the workload by introducing a more efficient way to plan and target children's next steps in learning nenhance systems for sharing information with parents about their children's learning and development, and provide ideas of how learning can be extended at home focus more closely on every available opportunity to support children's next steps, to help them make faster progress in their development.