The Lime Trees At John Clifford

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This provision meets requirements The children are in high spirits when they arrive at the club, and keen to explore the activities they will be doing. The staff are enthusiastic and greet each child by name and with genuine warmth. Children of all ages are kind to each other; they form close friendships.

They are excited to see the friends they do not see during the normal school day. Children say one of the best things about the club is playing with friends from other classes. Other comments children make is that they enjoy being able to play football with a real goal.

Children have plenty of opportunities for physical play. They have exclusive use of th...e school playground. Here, they play football, run and chase after a ball safely, scoring goals.

They thoroughly enjoy testing out their basketball skills and challenge staff to have a go. Children and staff cheer each other when they hit the target. Children are keen to engage with staff and confidently talk about their home experiences.

For instance, they talk with enthusiasm to staff about their meals at home that reflect their heritage and culture. Staff listen with interest and ask children questions to extend the conversations further. Children show high levels of concentration at activities of their choosing.

Drawing and creating is especially popular with younger children.

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

There is a strong leadership team in place. They have a solid ethos of ensuring the staff meet children's needs in the club.

Staff report that they receive excellent support for their mental health and well-being. They speak fondly of the kind and caring management team. Staff benefit from regular supervisions and attend training that is relevant to their roles.

This ensures that staff practice continues to meet the needs of children at the club.Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They use registration time to discuss the rules in the club.

For example, children know that 'respect' is one of the club rules. When some children talk during registration time, staff take the opportunity to reinforce that respect means listening to others and not talking over them. This helps to promote good social manners.

Staff give children a sense of responsibility, which helps to raise their self-esteem. For example, children relish the opportunity to prepare the fruit and vegetables for tea. Staff offer children healthy food choices at teatime; they choose from a wide selection of fruits and vegetables.

This contributes to children learning about healthy choices and developing healthy lifestyles.Staff provide a varied range of resources and materials for children to explore creatively. Children concentrate well and are deeply involved in making dough.

They carefully follow staff instructions to add the correct number of ingredients.When the dough is made, they use cutters to make pretend cakes. Young children hand visitors a cake.

This activity later becomes an opportunity for children to experiment with their own measurements, they comment they have made 'crazy dough'. They are excited and engrossed as they mix salt, flour, oil and paint. They enjoy feeling the textures and comment on the changes they observe.

Staff support children to follow good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating. Children understand the routines. Staff are vigilant while affording children privacy, when they attend the bathroom.

This helps to support their safety and security.Children enjoy participating in imaginary play. They use a range of small-world resources to create a zoo.

They confidently communicate with visitors and discuss times when they have visited a zoo with their family.The club operates an established key-person system for Reception-aged children. The key person gets to know the children well from the outset and works closely with the linked school and parents to exchange key information.

This helps promote consistency between school, club and home.Staff are very supportive of children and provide encouragement to keep trying. For instance, younger children practise ball skills.

Staff help them to try out different ways to move the ball, such as throwing, rolling, kicking and 'javelin throw style'. This supports children's self-confidence and resilience.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The leadership team have created an 'At a glance' guide to all things safeguarding for each staff member. This means staff have an instant reference guide to ensure they can not only identify types of abuse but also access the correct authority's phone number. This means that they are able to act immediately if they have a concern about a child's safety.

Effective procedures are in place for the safe recruitment of staff to ensure they are suitable to work with children. Staff follow well-organised procedures when parents collect children from the club. Staff are deployed well to ensure good levels of supervision and support for all children.

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