Kingswellies

Date of visit: 10th December 2022

Settings current improvement priorities :

1.3 Implement Child led floor book planning
2.2 Extension of KingsWellies Too

3.1 Further develop Self-Evaluation
3.3 Revise supervisor and managers work remits

Vision

Positive, caring relationships based on trust and respect, are at the heart of our philosophy. KingsWellies is a place to learn, develop and grow ‘happy healthy children’

Values

HAPPINESS AND WELLBEING
ENGAGEMENT
RESPECT
COMMUNICATION
ACHIEVEMENT
INTEGRITY
PARTNERSHIP AND CARE –
CHALLENGING
COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE

KingsWellies ELC benefits greatly from a strong management team who has an overview of all areas of the nursery

Aims

At KingsWellies, we believe that every day is a learning day and that learning is all around us. As well as being a place of learning, we pride ourselves on ensuring that all children are coming in to a loving, caring environment where they are valued and listened to. We also involve children and parents in trying to continually improve.

KingsWellies Nursery has a lovely, warm, welcoming feeling throughout the nursery. There is a real family feel to the setting and all staff and children appear happy to be there. Staff and children move through the setting, chatting to others , laughing and having fun. Children's ideas and opinions are a priority within activities.

Quality Improvement is a main feature of practice at Kingswellies All staff, children and families are included with focus on improving outcomes for children. There are regular opportunities for meaningful self-evaluation activities, looking at national guidance and using challenge questions.

Action plans are in place for specific areas of the curriculum which are being worked on by the setting as a whole. These actions support the improvement priorities identified through self-evaluation and link with the settings vision, values and aims.

Regular Staff meetings allow discussions which promote collegiate thinking and confidence among staff to share responsibilities equally.

Children's personal plans are kept and focus in on the specific needs of all children, such as things that would comfort them or individual requirements throughout the day. Children's plans, their observations and ideas are all part of their learning journey which is kept within the rooms.

Individual cloakroom areas are provided of the children. They have their own space for their belongings allowing for a development of sense of self while supporting independence and confidence.

Activities such as Health week allow children to make connections between different areas of learning. Building a concept or a skill from different perspectives deepens understanding and makes the curriculum coherent and meaningful to learners

The environment has been carefully laid out to ensure that children have a wide variety of different play areas available to them to stimulate a range of different learning opportunities. Cosy spaces are available as well as areas for use of loose parts and natural, open ended resources. Children are confident in choosing and using the resources available to them and transporting them to further develop their play.

Children are encouraged to lead their own learning and support others. Their opinions and suggestions are respected and valued. Successes are celebrated and shared.

Personal achievements and milestones of development reached are recorded within Life skill awards which support the 4 capacities of CfE

Children are regularly made aware of their learning by staff who are being supported to value planning approaches that are responsive to children's interests and life experiences. Individual success are celebrated and shared with other children and staff

Staff knowledge and understanding is supported in many ways - i.e. Experiences and outcomes flipcharts

Floor book planning has been rolled out throughout the setting. Effective responsive planning supports children to be leaders of their own learning. Staff are growing in confidence of using this planning and are aware of how this links with the curriculum for excellence.

Throughout the setting, there are displays which focus on the learning outcomes and the skills being developed by the children in their play. Children's ideas are incorporated with a focus on Literacy , Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing. Curriculum areas and Well being indicators are evident within many information areas and shared with families.

As part of becoming a Rights Respecting Nursery , Child led groups are practised. Eco School, Garden committee, Christmas Committee to name a few. Children are invited to register for groups. Real life meaningful experiences are supported by nursery staff. Visits to local shops for snack or Dobbies to buy fish allow children to experience planning a journey and using money. Organising charity events and celebration events such as graduation allow the children to plan and be part of a group supporting others. Children's ideas and learning are at the forefront of all activities.

Family Engagement

There is a real understanding of the importance of family engagement. The setting has an open door policy and encourages the involvement of families within most areas of the nursery. The setting recognises the parents as the main educator and values a parents or carers observations. Evaluation forms are distributed and ideas and opinions valued. There are many events which families are invited to get involved with and share their child's nursery experience.

Parents and families are welcome into the setting at drop off and pick up time. This supports building strong relationships. Many events allow families to be active participants. Grandparents day recently was well attended and enjoyed by all.

Home school links are evident within the setting. Lending Library and Maths and Literacy bags are available to share at home and allow families to share and support their child's learning and development while becoming more familiar of how children learn and develop.

Supporting Staff to deliver high quality practice ....

Staff are well supported within the setting , Management teams have regular meetings and are aware of the training needs of their staff. They facilitate time for shared learning and allow staff to work in different rooms to build relationships across the setting. Distributive leadership is evident with room leads taking responsibility for some areas and practitioners being confident to discuss improvements identified.

Regular monitoring of practice takes place and staff are encouraged to be reflective practitioners. Sharing practice and discussing strategies builds confidence in pedagogy and supports knowledge and understanding. Regular observation tracking facilitates effective observations which identify learning and appropriate next steps for the individual child. Staff are supported with a growing confidence to be able to identify learning within their practice and from there provide resources, time or interactions that will support further learning and development.