1st Place at the Elephant

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this welcoming and inclusive nursery, where they make good progress in their learning and development from their starting points. Staff provide a well-thought-out, ambitious curriculum. There is a strong emphasis on supporting children to explore and develop their creativity and expression. Outdoor learning features strongly in the daily routines for all children. During regular visits to the forest school, children develop a range of skills and learn to manage risks. Within the outdoor area, children excitedly participate in growing and planting activities, such as growing tomatoes and aubergines. They water plants and explore the soil. While doing planting, children decide to make 'soup' by mixing the soil with water. Staff support children to follow their own interests and develop their ideas.

Children, including babies, demonstrate that they are happy, safe and secure. New children are sensitively supported to settle and given lots of reassuring cuddles. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and help them to understand and manage their feelings and emotions. Children share and take turns from an early age. They learn about the impact of their behaviour on others as staff provide gentle reminders about using 'kind hands' and 'kind words'. Children understand the routines such as helping to tidy up when the 'tidy-up song' is sung.

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

• Leaders and managers are enthusiastic and committed and role model positive practice. They ensure a challenging curriculum is provided to ensure that all children consistently receive high quality learning opportunities. Subsequently all children achieve well and develop skills to support the next stage in their learning. Leaders carefully consider how to spend any additional funding to support the health and education of children, including those who may be disadvantaged.
• Staff provide an extremely stimulating and varied indoor and outdoor learning environment. Resources are carefully selected to support children to explore their senses and develop their creativity. Children show confidence as they independently self-select resources to develop their own ideas and concepts. Although the learning environment is very well planned, a lack of consideration has been given to ensuring that the toileting facilities support children's privacy at all times.
• Babies freely explore their learning environment. They develop their hand movements while searching through shredded paper for animals. They explore different textures while using paint, play dough, sand and water. Staff are nurturing, which helps babies to feel emotionally secure. Staff introduce new words to babies as they play with shells and explore the texture.
• Toddlers build confidence in their physical skills as they navigate equipment and
• Inspection report: 1st Place at the Elephant 13 May 2025 2 develop their coordination. They enthusiastically join in singing sessions and know a number of songs and rhymes where they copy actions. Children develop a love of books and reading from a young age. Staff support this love of reading by offering good-quality books in each room and providing a lending library. The library is used effectively by the children, who enjoy taking books home to share with their families. This supports children to build on their early literacy skills.
• Older children are confident and sociable and form friendships. They work together to make structures from crates and wheels and demonstrate strong problem-solving skills. They imaginatively act out being on a boat and excitedly talk about different places they will visit. Staff enthusiastically join in children's play.
• Staff assess children's development to establish what they already know and can do. They use this information to identify any emerging gaps and plan for children's next steps. The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Staff work in partnership with parents and make timely referrals to ensure that children receive the specialist support they need.
• The staff team are consistent and well established. Staff say they enjoy working at the nursery and value the training opportunities provided to them. There are systems in place for staff supervision. However, the nursery does not always use its existing arrangements effectively to monitor staff's understanding to ensure a consistent approach to practice.
• Partnership with parents is strong. Parents speak very positively about the nursery and the care provided. They like the inclusiveness of the nursery and find the staff friendly and caring. Parents like the opportunities that children have to go on outings. They value the guidance they receive from staff to help support children's progress at home, such as with toilet training. Staff are also proactive in helping parents develop their own skills such as learning about baby massage.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the toileting arrangements to further support children's privacy
• focus staff supervision more precisely to ensure consistency in high-quality interactions across the staff team and to address any gaps in staff knowledge.
• Inspection report: 1st Place at the Elephant 13 May 2025 3