The Garden at Kingswood

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The nursery environment provides an exciting and welcoming space for children to explore. Resources in all areas are planned to maximise the learning potential and offer the widest choice for children.

Staff nurture the children and take time to get to know the needs of all children. Children are happy and thoroughly enjoy the time they spend at the nursery. They quickly form close attachments to staff and feel confident to play and explore their new surroundings.

Children play cooperatively. They show consideration for others and learn to share and take turns. Children behave very well.

Toddlers play happily ...alongside others. Babies handover toys to their friends. Staff offer lots of praise, which helps to build babies' self-esteem.

Babies giggle with delight while exploring sensory toys. They show good coordination as they climb using low-level apparatus outdoors. Toddlers show good concentration skills while they build towers and beam with delight while singing.

Children spend a lot of time outdoors, exploring the large variety of outdoor spaces. Children and babies are given lots of opportunities to develop their early writing skills. For example, babies make marks in flour, while toddlers enjoy painting.

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

The early years headteacher is passionate about her role and is committed to providing the best outcomes for children. She has worked hard to secure a good team of practitioners who share her enthusiasm. The early years headteacher, supported by the senior school team, has a clear vision of how to provide high-quality care and education.

Practitioners feel valued and speak highly of the early years headteacher. Their morale is good. Practitioners are supported in their own professional development.

There is a culture to evaluate and share new ideas with the team.The leadership team has a strong understanding of the curriculum intent and regularly reflect upon the quality of the provision. They make changes to the environment to suit children's learning needs.

For instance, in the outside area they have added a forest school and chicken coop. The leadership team gather the views of parents, staff and children about the setting. They use this information effectively to drive improvements and enrich outcomes for children.

Partnerships with parents are well established and they speak highly of all aspects of care and learning. Parents comment that the communication is very good and they are fully involved in their children's learning and progress. Parents comment that the practitioners are amazing and highly professional.

They express their gratitude and feel supported to continue their children's learning at home.Children develop good relationships with their key person. Staff know their key children well and have a good understanding of their levels of development and what each child needs to learn next.

They plan effectively, based upon children's interests. Staff understand that learning occurs through age-related experiences, and for children to move on to their next stage this must be successfully planned for. This enables children to make the progress that they are capable of.

Promoting children's health is a clear priority. Children benefit from healthy and nutritious meals that are freshly prepared on site. Staff plan and sequence a range of activities for children to help reinforce the importance of keeping their teeth and bodies healthy.

Babies have good care routines. They are encouraged to wash their hands and staff take care to monitor children at sleep times. Babies benefit from a dedicated well-developed outdoor space.

Staff provide lots of opportunities for babies to develop their physical development. For example, they use slides, slopes, steps and climbing equipment. Toddlers also have access to a well-developed forest school.

Babies and toddlers follow their own interests and make choices for themselves, such as pointing to resources like bubbles that they want to play with. There is a good balance of individual, small group, and large group play. However, at times staff take too long to organise the next activity, such as snack and lunch.

Children and babies become unsettled and lose interest while they are waiting.Staff speak to babies and toddlers in calm, caring voices during play. However, occasionally the language used with young children is too complex for their level of understanding.

This has an impact on children's speech and language development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The early years headteacher and staff demonstrate a secure knowledge of safeguarding practices and how to keep children safe in their care.

They are knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms that might indicate that a child is at risk from harm. Staff confidently discuss local safeguarding procedures and the steps to take, should concern for a child's well-being arise. They attend regular safeguarding training to ensure their knowledge is current.

Staff are aware that some families may be vulnerable to extreme views or ideas. There is an extremely robust recruitment procedure in place to ensure appropriate checks are completed to determine an employee's suitability.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the organisation and length of time of group activities for babies, particularly at snack times and changes in routines, to ensure children do not become unsettled and distracted nenhance opportunities to extend the way staff develop younger children's speech and language skills.

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