Robert Bakewell Playgroup Limited

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy to arrive at this welcoming playgroup. Some children give staff cuddles when they greet them, showing the positive relationships they have with staff.

Children demonstrate that they are content, safe and emotionally secure. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. Children follow clear and consistent rules and boundaries that are set by staff.

For example, when they join small-group activities, they follow a visual timetable to help them understand what comes next. Children behave well and know what is expected of them. Children think about how they can solve problems in their play.
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For example, when they use soft toy bricks to build a tower, staff ask them how they can make it taller. Children work together as a team, turn the bricks on their side and construct a taller tower. They stand at the side of it to compare their own height.

Children show pride in their achievements. The manager, special educational needs coordinator and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. They put targeted plans in place and work closely with parents and other professionals to support children's individual needs.

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

Staff use the curriculum to build on the skills children need for future learning. For example, they support children to develop their personal and social skills. Staff consistently help children to manage their behaviour.

They give them plenty of praise and encouragement, helping to raise children's self-esteem and confidence. Children join activities where they learn to share and take turns. They behave well.

Staff encourage children to be independent. Children put on their shoes and coats before they play outside with minimal support from staff.Staff offer children plenty of opportunities to be physically active.

Outdoors, children climb onto stepping stones, hold out their arms to balance and jump from one to another. Staff help children to develop their understanding of the effects of exercise on their bodies. For example, after children dance to music, staff ask them to feel their heart beating.

Children say, 'It is fast because it is happy.' Staff promote children's communication and language skills. For example, when younger children say 'truck', staff repeat the word and add two further words, such as 'big green truck'.

This helps children to develop their understanding of the objects they play with. This is particularly effective for children with SEND. Staff invite children to join them for small-group activities.

They use equipment to encourage children to speak, such as toy telephones. This supports children who speak English as an additional language effectively.Staff help children to develop their mathematical skills.

For example, they ask children to count how many children are present in a group. Children begin to count to 12, and when they struggle to continue, staff count with them, helping them to reach 16. This contributes to children's knowledge of numbers.

Staff help children to recognise different shapes, such as an oval. Children show a positive attitude to learning.Staff provide opportunities for children to develop their literacy skills in the playgroup.

For example, they help them to learn sounds that represent letters of the alphabet. Staff use different tones in their voice when they read a story and point to images on the pages. This helps children to listen and pay attention.

However, staff do not consistently support parents to continue their children's learning at home, for example to encourage them to read to their children.The manager and staff work well with the host school. They invite teachers to visit children in the playgroup before they start school.

Staff take children to attend special events at the school and to play in the school playground. This helps children to get to know the teachers and the environment. The manager provides teachers with a summary of children's progress.

This contributes to consistency in children's development.Staff attend meetings to help evaluate the activities and experiences they provide for children. They attend training courses to help plan for children with SEND.

However, the manager does not monitor staff's practice precisely enough to support their teaching and interactions with children even further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a clear understanding of their safeguarding role.

They know what to do if a child may be at risk of harm. The manager works closely with other agencies and professionals to promote the safety and welfare of children. The manager uses robust recruitment procedures to make sure that staff are suitable for their roles and are suitably vetted to work with children.

Staff follow guidelines to promote children's safety. For example, they cut up grapes before they give them to children to help avoid them choking.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: consistently support parents to continue children's learning at home, for example, to read to children to promote their literacy skills build on the monitoring of staff practice more precisely to help raise their good-quality teaching and interactions with children even higher.

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