The Dell@Abel Smith

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements Children settle in quickly at the club. Staff gather a range of useful information from parents before children start. This helps staff to plan exciting and relevant activities.

Children interact happily with one another and behave well. They cooperate and work together, and confidently share their ideas. They discuss how to extend and adapt the models they make from cardboard boxes and tubes.

Children ensure that their games are inclusive and fair. They pretend to use their model as a house for their toy characters. They divide up the space in their model so that there is room for everyone to play.

Children feel ...safe and secure at The Dell. They form meaningful relationships with the staff and follow instructions well. The staff use their strong knowledge and experience effectively to support those children who need additional help and encouragement.

The strategies they use are highly effective. Children focus and interact positively as they listen to a story with their friends. The setting operates across two different buildings.

However, staff have carefully considered ways to ensure that older and younger children can interact with one another. They share playtimes outside, where they play and explore together.

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

Children concentrate and persevere at the activities they chose.

Younger children join jigsaw pieces together, turning them around and trying different pieces until they succeed. Staff encourage and praise them for their efforts. Children talk about the jigsaws they complete.

They confidently retell familiar stories that they see in the pictures. They involve their friends in their play, talking to them about what is happening.Staff enjoy their roles.

Senior leaders provide a great deal of support to the staff team. They offer staff a range of training, and opportunities to progress their careers. Apprentices receive guidance from experienced staff members, supporting them to become an effective key person.

Staff respond positively to the achievable targets that managers identify during regular supervision meetings. This helps staff to develop and strengthen their practice further.Parents speak highly of the service that staff provide.

They comment that staff keep them well informed about their children's time at the club. Staff choose to complete learning journals to track the youngest children's time with them. Parents enjoy looking at these and find the journals informative.

The staff collaborate with school staff highly effectively. Key workers meet regularly with class teachers. They discuss the youngest children's progress and share ideas and strategies to support children.

They also share information at the daily handover. This helps them to monitor the well-being of the children they care for.Children are highly confident communicators.

They openly share their work with visiting adults. Children build on their own existing experiences. For example, they write out a register and pretend to be teachers.

They make marks on their work to show that all of their friends are here. They share this information with those around them, informing visitors that everyone is present.Children are very well supported by staff.

They respond positively to the guidance that staff provide. Children choose to complete a game to practise their spelling. Children spell out the words they see on the picture cards using the letter tiles.

Staff encourage them to extend and challenge themselves, such as by trying to complete trickier words. Children smile proudly as they sound out the words they have created.Older children take on responsibilities and willingly help the staff during the session.

They all clear their plates once they finish eating. They help staff to get children's attention and take requests for dessert. They assist staff to ensure that everyone has what they need.

However, staff do not provide the youngest children with enough opportunities to take on responsibilities and help staff, especially during mealtimes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a strong understanding of their responsibilities regarding safeguarding.

They implement the policies effectively. Senior managers are vigilant to ensure that staff and committee members are suitable for their roles. Staff can confidently identify the possible signs of abuse and neglect.

They are aware of the signs of wider safeguarding issues, such as how to identify those children who may be at risk of exposure to extreme views and behaviour. Staff receive training to support them to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Managers hold regular discussions with them to ensure their knowledge is accurate.

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