Little Stars Childcare

Inspection of Little Stars Childcare Millers Chemist, 165 Cheadle Road, Cheddleton, Leek, Staffordshire ST13 7HN

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not applicable

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The provision is good

Children enjoy the time they spend at the nursery and have developed close attachments to staff. Staff are nurturing and attend to children's individual needs well. Children are happy, safe and secure. Babies enjoy cuddles from staff. They wave, smile and use sounds to communicate with familiar adults.

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The provision is good

All children make good progress and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Pre-school children are provided with a high level of opportunities to be independent. They eagerly complete everyday tasks for themselves, such as re- filling their water bottles and managing their personal care routines. They learn to risk assess activities such as how to carry a chair safely. Two-year-old children progress well with their communication and language. They start conversations with friends and adults. They confidently use simple sentences and ask questions. Babies use their senses to develop their understanding of the world and their immediate environments. They crawl into the sandpit and use their hands to scoop sand and explore the texture. They drop spherical stones and observe how they spin on the table.

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The provision is good

Children understand what staff expect from them. Two-year-old children help to tidy up and know where equipment must be returned. Pre-school children cooperate well with friends, when they work together to construct tall towers. Children learn to manage their feelings and behaviour well.

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need to do better?

n Leaders are committed to making continual improvements to the nursery to benefit children. For example, they recently enhanced the outdoor learning experiences for babies. They value the contributions that parents, staff and children make to their self-review process. n Leaders closely monitor the quality of children's learning experiences. Overall, they identify aspects of staff practice that can be enhanced even further and provide staff with effective training and support. Recent training helped staff to extend their knowledge of how to support children who have special educational needs and or disabilities. n Staff have detailed knowledge of each child's achievements. They plan well for what they want children to learn in the long term. However, some staff do not use their good knowledge of children as well as possible, to precisely identify what children need to learn next. n Teaching is good. Staff have a secure understanding of child development. They

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need to do better?

skilfully support children's communication and language development. For example, staff help pre-school children to understand the meaning of new words, such as 'perseverance' and 'phoneme'. Babies listen attentively to sounds

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need to do better?

5 August 2021 that staff make and copy these. They repeat 'mmm' to show their excitement about food. However, staff do not consider as fully as possible what it is they want children to learn in some activities. They overlook some opportunities to offer children even greater challenge to extend their learning further. n Leaders and staff successfully support children's emotional security. Leaders made effective adjustments for children in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. For instance, they offered families shorter sessions, to help children who needed more time to settle back into the nursery following a long absence. The effective key-person system helps children to gain secure emotional attachments with staff. Staff support children well in preparation for their move to the next room and school. n Parent partnerships are strong. Parents appreciate the variety of ways that staff communicate to them about their children. They value the support staff provide

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need to do better?

them with to help with children's continued learning at home, such as with toileting and dressing themselves. n Staff support children's early literacy well. Pre-school children learn about letters and their sounds. They use this knowledge to identify sounds they can hear in simple words and suggest words that rhyme. Staff skilfully correct children's misunderstandings, such as not saying a letter sound correctly. n Staff provide children with a wide variety of interesting activities, both indoors and outdoors. Children show positive attitudes to learning and behave well. Two-year-old children concentrate as they solve problems to connect a series of cogs and gears together. Babies show their excitement and giggle as they use scarves to cover their faces and then repeat the same actions on staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff have a good understanding of how to protect children and understand the procedures to follow if they identify any concerns about a child's welfare. This includes being alert to wider safeguarding concerns related to the 'Prevent' duty. Staff know what to do should they have concerns about the conduct of a colleague. Leaders follow robust recruitment procedures to ensure staff suitability. Staff complete thorough risk assessments to keep children safe. This includes, ensuring the areas that children use are free from hazards and regularly checking sleeping children.

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should:

n help staff to use their observations and knowledge of children's achievements more precisely to identify what children need to learn next n help staff to specifically identify what it is they want children to learn in all

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should:

5 August 2021 activities to provide them with an even greater level of challenge.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 2527015 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 10201323 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 62 Name of registered person Little Stars Partnership

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reference number

Telephone number 01538 528175 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Little Stars Nursery registered in 2019. The nursery employs 14 members of childcare staff. Of these, 13 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level three and above. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday for 50 weeks of the year. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. The nursery receives funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the setting received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the setting and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the setting. n The managers and the inspector completed a learning walk together. The inspector observed teaching practices and considered the impact these have on children's learning. n The inspector held discussions with the leaders, staff, children and parents. n The inspector sampled some of the setting's documentation, including the safeguarding policy and procedures. n The inspector and managers completed a joint observation together and assessed the quality of teaching.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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Inspection activities

5 August 2021 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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