8 till 6 Eagle Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, engaged and show that they feel safe and secure. They show that they build good bonds with staff. Children follow instructions to sit for circle time and seek out staff when they need help or reassurance. Staff act as good role models for children. They are kind and approachable. Children build good levels of self-esteem and behave well, receiving lots of praise for their efforts and achievements. Staff provide a calm environment, with clear expectations for children's behaviour. Children benefit from this consistent approach.

Children learn about how to stay safe and manage their spatial awareness. They consider the safety of other children, as they practise balancing on stepping stones and when jumping off crates and tyres outside. Staff use these opportunities to introduce new words, such as 'further,' 'nearer', 'close' and' far', as they move and jump in different directions.

Children enjoy themselves in role play in the well-resourced home corner. They take on familiar roles and care for babies and cook dinner in the kitchen. Children enjoy using their experiences and imagination to create stories in their play. For example, they pretend to wash their clothes in the washing machine.

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

• The managers and staff work well as a team. They take time to get to know the children well and reflect children's emerging interests in the activities they plan. The managers have established a clear curriculum that helps children build on their knowledge and skills to prepare them for the eventual move on to school. The ethos and curriculum are shared well with staff, who plan effectively for each child's individual stage of development.
• Overall, children hear staff use and introduce lots of new words that help them build a wide vocabulary. For example, while young children make pancakes with play dough, staff introduce new words, such as 'pat', 'roll, 'flatten' and 'circle'. Staff make links to the ingredients children use to make play dough to help them think about what they could use when making pancakes.
• Staff know what children need to learn next and share this information with parents. They provide parents with ideas to support children's ongoing learning at home. Parents are very positive about the nursery and staff. They state that they feel well informed about their children's day and what they need to learn next. Parents remark on what their child tells them about the activities they have enjoyed. They notice the progress their children make in building their self-confidence and independence.
• The managers recognise the importance of self-evaluation. They use feedback effectively to identify areas for improvement and work closely with the local
• Inspection report: 8 till 6 Eagle Nursery 18 April 2023 2 authority to drive improvement. Continuous professional development supports staff in their roles. They access a range of courses to build on their knowledge and continually improve the quality of teaching.
• Staff support children's health well. Children learn to develop healthy lifestyles. For instance, they enjoy healthy snacks and drinks, access fresh air daily and take part in rigorous physical activity. Children engage in dance and exercise sessions. Furthermore, children gain good coordination and balance skills; for example, they carefully navigate and ride their scooters.
• Overall, staff adapt their interactions appropriately to support children who speak English as an additional language. They use staff who use single words and have staff who speak the same language, to help build children's understanding. However, not all staff use the home words that they gather from families at the start. This does not fully supports children to hear or use their home language frequently, or to make connections with what they know and develop even more confidence to speak in English.
• Children behave well and are kind and caring to their friends. They access resources from easily accessible units and tidy away after play. However, staff do not consistently encourage children to take responsibility throughout the day with their resources, including books when they have finished with these, and to take care of the things that they use.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance support for children who speak English as an additional language to hear and use their home languages in nursery, to boost their understanding and confidence to speak English
• help children to understand how to take more care of their books and resources, particularly when they are leading their own play.
• Inspection report: 8 till 6 Eagle Nursery 18 April 2023 3