Abberley House Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provider has made significant improvements since the last inspection. These changes have made a positive difference to the quality of the provision and the care and education children receive. Staff implement a challenging curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. They have a clear understanding of what it is that they want children to learn. They differentiate activities to ensure that all children's individual learning needs are met, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, children thrive in the experiences they have, are motivated and demonstrate a positive attitude to their learning.

Staff promote a safe and secure environment for all children. Children are happy and settled and seek comfort and reassurance when they are feeling unsure. This supports children's emotional resilience. Staff build positive relationships with their key children that enable them to feel safe. Staff are mindful of children's safety during their time outside; they ensure children stay hydrated in the warm weather and stay out of the sun as much as possible. Children absorb themselves in creative activities with excitement as they discover ice in the tray and explore this with curiosity. Staff use a variety of words to describe how this feels in their hands, such as 'cold' and 'hard'. This helps develop children's expanding vocabulary.

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

• Since their last inspection, there have been changes within the staff team. Management places a huge focus on building well-being and staff morale across the team. This has had a positive impact on the working environment in the nursery. Management meets regularly with staff to carry out supervision meetings to discuss any support they require for their key children or themselves. Staff attend the training they require to understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Generally, routines of the day are embedded. Children know to wash their hands before mealtimes and sit and discuss what is happening next during their circle time. During lunchtime routines, older children sing songs as they wait for their friends to be ready. However, some younger children's routines are not as well organised. Some children wait for extended periods of time. As a result, they begin to lose their focus and become slightly disruptive in their behaviour as they wait.
• Children learn about other people in their wider community. Pre-school children visit the local care home, where they do a variety of activities with the residents. Children enthusiastically talk about their visits and what they enjoyed. They learn how to care for their environment as they discover the importance of protecting the bees to help the flowers in their garden.
• The curriculum focuses on building children's independence, confidence and exploration. Overall, the majority of staff implement this well. However, there are times during activity discussions when more-confident children take over to share their ideas. Some staff at times overlook less-confident children when they are trying to contribute. This results in the children not always receiving the same opportunity to build on their confidence by sharing their voices during activities.
• Partnership with parents is good. Parents share positive feedback about the care their children receive. They have seen an increase in communication from management, which provides them with detailed information about what is happening in the nursery. Parents comment they like the parent events as this helps them to be involved in their children's learning, for example the picnic and Easter egg hunt. Staff work with parents and other professionals to support children with their target plans if they are falling behind in their development. This enables them to make expected progress.
• Children learn about the importance of being healthy. They enjoy activities that develop their awareness of good personal care routines. For instance, they practise cleaning their teeth to promote good oral hygiene. Children learn where food comes from; they plant seeds in their vegetable patch to grow vegetables, such as peas, potatoes and carrots, and help to take care of them.
• Children are physically active. For example, children participate in yoga sessions that staff theme with music from around the world. They follow instructions well and imitate actions such as flying on an aeroplane to stretch out the muscles in their arms. This provides children with an awareness of diversity as they listen to different cultural music.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop routines for the younger children so they are not waiting for extended periods of time
• strengthen strategies to help less-confident children to become confident during activities to enable them to contribute their voice and ideas.