Marina's Amigos Home

Childcare on domestic premises

Unique reference number (URN): 2821674 Registered with Ofsted: 17/01/2025 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders and staff know all the children extremely well. They gather a wealth of information from parents when children start attending, and this is updated regularly. This enables staff to ensure that children's welfare and wellbeing are central to everything they do and to identify and respond to any possible barriers to children's learning and development. Staff are highly skilled at identifying when children are tired or hungry. They are quickly on hand to provide cuddles and reassurance if children feel unsettled. Staff clearly demonstrate their passion for working with children, and this contributes to the warm and positive atmosphere within the setting. Children learn strategies to help them manage different emotions. For example, during circle time, staff remind children about their yoga sessions where they practise breathing in and out to help make them feel calm.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children regularly learn about how to keep themselves healthy. Staff deliver messages about healthy food choices during mealtimes or when talking to children as they play. Recent training around healthy movement has resulted in staff incorporating a wider range of physical activities and exercise into each day. Hygiene practices are of a consistently high standard. Children are therefore fully equipped with the skills they need to help them make their own healthy choices and decisions.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn to become increasingly independent as staff seamlessly support them to do things for themselves. In the baby room, children proudly start to feed themselves and toddlers serve their own lunch and pour their milk. Staff give children time to practise these new skills, so they do not feel rushed. This helps build their confidence as they acquire new skills.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff are highly skilled at identifying children who may require additional support. They do this promptly and put in place strategies to address any areas of concern immediately. Where appropriate, leaders access advice from their local authority to determine if any referrals to other agencies are required. Staff work closely with other professionals to make adaptations to the learning environment to ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) can access a highly effective curriculum and teaching that make a demonstrable difference to their outcomes.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Parents of children with SEND recognise the huge impact the setting has had on their children's learning and development. They value the support that leaders give them, including helping them to access appropriate services at home and attending meetings as children prepare to move on to school.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders ensure that any additional funding they receive is targeted effectively to make as much difference as possible to children who face any barriers to learning. This may be by providing additional staffing for some children or purchasing specialist resources. They carry out regular reviews to measure the impact of any measures they have put in place to support children and produce comprehensive reports for other agencies to inform any

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Expected standard

external assessments. This helps to ensure that children benefit from timely and highly effective interventions.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress from their starting points. They benefit from targeted support as soon as any concerns about their learning and development are identified. They engage in activities that are precisely matched to their needs, which helps them to develop their knowledge and skills and grow in confidence.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children's communication and language development benefit from high-quality interactions with staff as they play, as well as through listening to lots of stories and joining in with familiar rhymes and songs. In the baby room, children confidently turn the pages of board books and start to babble as they do so. Older children develop social skills as they chat together when they engage in imaginative play outside. They learn to take turns and share the equipment.

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Achievement Expected standard

Although children are typically well prepared for their next stage in learning, during some activities, older children's progress is not consistently accelerated to support them to be even more ready for transition to the school nursery.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

There is a lovely purposeful atmosphere throughout the setting as children play and learn together. Staff act as positive role models, treating children with kindness and respect. Children's behaviour is highly impressive. On the rare occasions where staff need to support children who are struggling to regulate their emotions, this is highly effective and there is clearly a consistent approach so that children are helped to understand what is expected of them. Discussions also take place with parents so they also understand how staff promote children's positive behaviour. Staff respond promptly when several children in the baby room become unsettled at the same time. They decide to take some of the children out for a walk so that babies who need to sleep are not disturbed.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children are clearly very familiar with daily routines. These are adapted appropriately so that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities feel included. Older children wait with incredible patience as their friends serve their own lunch. However, sometimes, transitions between different parts of the day take too long, for example getting ready for meals. This results in children not being consistently engaged in purposeful learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Leaders recognise the importance of regular attendance. They monitor any periods of absence and work with parents should they consider additional support is required.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have a very clear understanding of what they want children to learn during their time at the setting. The curriculum provided is broad and balanced. Staff carry out rigorous assessments and tracking of all children's learning and development. This is used to identify precise next steps to support children's progress. Learning opportunities are carefully planned so that children's interests are considered to encourage them to engage in relevant activities. For example, staff in the baby room recognise that children are fascinated by farmyard animals. They set up an activity that supports some children's communication and language development, while for other children the focus is on their early counting skills. In the toddler room, the outdoor learning environment is set up to develop children's fine motor skills through their enjoyment of water play, minibeast hunting and the mud kitchen.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

There is an appropriate balance between group activities and occasions when groups of children are taught together. Staff also incorporate learning into daily routines, such as mealtimes and tidying up. On occasion, whole-group activities are a little too long for some children. Staff do not consistently adapt their teaching to cater for the differing needs of the children taking part. Leaders have already begun to review practice to consider further how to maximise children's learning opportunities.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders are highly reflective. They welcome support and advice from their local authority. Leaders have worked hard to build the staff team and to equip them with the training and support they need to fulfil their roles as effectively as possible. They ensure that any key messages from training are shared with the wider staff team. For example, strategies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are modelled by leaders so that other staff in the room can adopt the same approach. Leaders have already identified aspects of practice that need to be embedded further so that children consistently experience the highest quality of provision.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff benefit from regular supervisions. They report that leaders check in on their wellbeing regularly and respond promptly to any emerging pressures or concerns. This helps make staff feel valued. There is a strong sense of teamwork as more experienced staff support those who are new to childcare.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Partnerships with parents are a real strength of the setting. Parents welcome regular and effective communication about their children's learning and development. Leaders also ensure that they reach out to families who may need some additional advice or support, signposting them to other services in the community when appropriate. Feedback from parents demonstrates that they recognise the highly positive impact leaders and staff are having on their children's learning and development.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children benefit from warm and nurturing care from dedicated staff in this homely setting. On arrival, they receive a warm welcome as staff collect any important information from their parents or carers. Children settle quickly, demonstrating that they have formed trusting bonds with the staff team. The learning environment, indoors and outdoors, is highly stimulating. There is a wealth of different resources and areas of interest, which children are eager to explore. These have been carefully planned to take account of children's interests and the next steps in their learning. In the baby room, activities are set up at different levels

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Inspector:

Jan Batchelor to encourage some children to pull themselves up to support their physical development. Children giggle with delight as they pop bubbles as staff encourage them to reach out. There is lots of praise and encouragement when children start to repeat words such as 'bubble' and 'pop'. Older children develop their small muscle skills as they use different resources to hunt for worms in compost. They eagerly show the inspector where to hunt for different insects. Staff have provided books, magnifying glasses and photos to support children's current fascination with minibeasts. Carefully considered activities support children to become confident and enthusiastic learners. This helps prepare them for their next stage in learning.

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Inspector:

Children gain many experiences to help to support their sense of belonging in the local community. Leaders have established lovely links with a local care home, and children visit regularly. Children also find out about how fruit and vegetables are grown when they attend sessions at an allotment nearby. These visits also help them to learn more about healthy eating. Staff are keen to provide children with opportunities they may not get at home, for example a recent visit from ducks and ducklings and a trip using public transport. These opportunities enhance children's learning and help them to gain new knowledge and skills.

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Inspector:

The setting is highly inclusive. Leaders and staff have created an environment in which all children feel valued and respected. Where children face barriers to their learning, these are identified swiftly and plans are put in place to support them to flourish.

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Next steps

Leaders should support staff to develop their teaching skills even more, especially during group activities with varying ages of children, so that learning opportunities are targeted even more to children's ages and stages of development. Leaders should review and strengthen times of transition and aspects of daily routines, such as mealtimes, to provide even further opportunities for purposeful learning.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator and parents during the inspection. Written feedback from parents was also reviewed.

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About this inspection

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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About this setting

Operating hours: Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 17:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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