197 Early Years Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled at this warm and nurturing nursery. Staff plan individualised settling-in procedures for new starters. As such, babies seek out reassurance from familiar adults and cuddle up to their key person. Staff are knowledgeable and give children practical and emotional support. This helps children to build trusting bonds with the staff and to feel safe and secure.

Staff plan an ambitious curriculum that focuses on children's communication and language development and skills for later learning. They introduce new vocabulary and give a running commentary as children play, which supports their communication and language development. Babies start to babble and mimic the sounds of various toy farm animals hidden in hay. Younger children develop the small muscles in their hands as they catch pretend ducks in the water tray. This helps prepare them for later writing. Older children have opportunities to choose the story they would like to hear and develop good concentration skills and listen intently to shared stories, which staff deliver skilfully using a puppet. Children are becoming confident communicators.

Overall, children behave well and respond to the staff's instructions. Staff are kind and warm in their approach. They provide children with plenty of praise for their achievements. This builds children's confidence and self-esteem.

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

• Staff plan ample opportunities for children to develop their imaginations. Children clearly enjoy role play, using real props such as sweetcorn, as they pretend to be shopkeepers. Staff help young children to develop their emotions as they care for dolls. Children copy the staff and gently rock their dolls to sleep. This helps children to make connections with real life experiences.
• Overall, staff carefully consider what they want children to learn and have designed a curriculum that places a strong focus on the key skills children need to learn for later life. For instance, babies are supported to learn songs by using visual prompts in books to help them to recall the rhymes. Older children are confident in their speech and are articulate as they describe the different foods in the role-play area. This helps all children develop their vocabulary. Mostly, activities are purposeful and well planned. However, on some occasions, staff are not clear about what they want children to focus on specifically. This means that children wait too long for the intended learning and leave the group activities.
• Leaders and staff work closely with the local schools to make sure children are well prepared for starting reception. For example, staff access training to help them develop their knowledge of how to support children in these transition times. This helps staff identify children who need extra support. This helps
• Inspection report: 197 Early Years Nursery 7 August 2025 2 children to become confident and ready for their next stage of education.
• Children generally behave well. However, on occasions, staff do not support children to understand the impact of their behaviour. For instance, children sometimes take the toys other children are playing with. Although staff comfort children, they do not consistently challenge unwanted behaviour. This means that children do not learn the consequences of unwanted behaviour and how this may impact on others.
• Staff teach children the importance of health and hygiene. For example, at mealtimes, children learn why they must wash their hands. Staff talk about the benefits of the freshly cooked meals that they enjoy. Furthermore, staff remind younger children to regularly drink water to keep hydrated. This helps children to develop healthy habits for later life.
• Leaders ensure that staff attend training to keep their knowledge up to date. Furthermore, staff receive regular supervision sessions and attend meetings to support them in developing their skills. As a result, staff feel valued, morale is high and staff retention is strong.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff share information through daily discussions to help parents continue their children's learning at home. Parents are complimentary about the welcoming staff and the progress that their children make in their development in readiness for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to teach precise learning intentions during group activities to help children remain fully engaged and learning
• develop behaviour management strategies to support children to understand the impact of any unwanted behaviour and how their behaviour may impact on others.
• Inspection report: 197 Early Years Nursery 7 August 2025 3