Wind In The Willows Childcare (Longbarn)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The management team and staff provide a warm welcome for children and their families to this inviting and inclusive setting.

Children eagerly arrive for their sessions and quickly seek out staff to share their news and experiences. They enthusiastically engage in an array of activities both indoors and outside that ignite their interest and also build on their prior learning. Staff know children very well and use their knowledge of children's emerging interests effectively to entice them to learn.

Staff have high expectations of children and eagerly join them in their play. They sensitively encourage children to explor...e, investigate and take appropriate risks. For example, children help staff to undertake their daily risk assessment of the outdoor environment.

This helps to ensure children understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff lavish praise on children for their good behaviour and sensitively help them to understand when some behaviours are not acceptable. Children show a keen interest in the natural world and eagerly hunt for bugs and make potions in 'badger's wood'.

They look under logs and leaves and discuss the things they find for their 'potion pots'. Staff use opportunities such as these to ask meaningful questions. However, some staff do not consistently give children enough time to think, respond and solve their own problems.

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

Ambitious and passionate leaders share their vision with the staff team and together they strive to offer high-quality early years experiences for all children. A culture of deep and purposeful refection is embedded in practice. Staff seek the views of children and their parents when evaluating the success of the nursery and planning future changes Staff receive a range of supervision, coaching and mentoring opportunities.

Managers observe staff as they work with children and target aspects of teaching that could be enhanced further. Training is carefully planned for each member of staff in order to help them develop their skills further. For example, training in the care and development of babies has supported staff in providing parents with helpful leaflets on different aspects of child development.

Staff observe children as they play and accurately assess their learning. They identify any gaps in children's learning and focus upon these, providing experiences that help children to make good progress. Additional funding is used extremely well to provide the targeted resources and experiences some children require to make good progress and thrive.

Staff talk to children about what they see them doing and carefully introduce new words to help to expand their developing vocabulary. For example, when making 'magic potions', staff introduce the word 'ingredients' and check that children understand its meaning. Staff ask interesting questions in order to challenge children in their learning.

However, some staff do not wait for children to answer before providing the answer for them.Children learn to recognise numbers and to calculate. They enjoy counting and use mathematical vocabulary when comparing the different heights of towers that they build, remarking on which tower is the tallest.

Overall, staff recognise when further support may be needed to help children develop and thrive. However, some staff do not consistently recognise opportunities for children to solve their own problems as they play. For example, staff quickly inform children how to prevent their tower of bricks from falling over rather then encouraging them to explore their own ideas first.

Parents speak very highly of the care and support families receive from staff at the nursery. They feel very well informed of their child's progress. Staff provide support with a range of developmental needs, such as toilet training, sleep routines and toothbrushing.

Staff work in close partnership with a wide range of services. For example, they develop close links with the local residents association. As part of their enrichment activities with the Royal Horticultural Society, staff have taught children the benefits of growing their own food and maintaining aspects of their local environment.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff understand their responsibilities in relation to child protection issues very well. They can identify issues that may mean a child is at risk of harm.

Staff know how to report any child welfare concerns to the relevant professionals. They receive regular, up-to-date training. All staff receive a thorough induction and are vetted closely to confirm their suitability to work with children.

They provide parents with guidance on what to do should they feel concerned about a child's welfare. There are good arrangements to ensure the premises are secure and that staff only release children to a known and authorised adult.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: consistently provide children with enough time to think, respond and demonstrate what they know and understand when asking questions nenhance teaching skills even further and support staff in making the most of opportunities to fully extend children's problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they arise.