Acre Wood Children's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle very quickly and confidently. They are excited to greet staff with instinctive cuddles and welcoming hugs on their arrival. Staff create a very caring and nurturing environment that helps children to feel safe and secure. They work closely with parents in the early days of their children attending the nursery. Staff gather information about how children like to play and what they can already do, to help to plan their first few sessions effectively. This helps to support children's emotional well-being.

Staff are positive and inspire children to develop their independence, try new things and take pride in their achievements, such as finding their own name-card to register their attendance. Children behave very well. They are kind to each other, share resources and are very sociable. Older children demonstrate patience as they work together to make gingerbread biscuits. They share equipment well and accept rules that keep everyone safe.

Staff have a key focus on children's personal welfare. Babies show they feel safe and secure as they bounce to Christmas jingles and join in saying 'ho, ho, ho' to Santa. They show delight in messy, sensory activities with water, dried orange peel and scoops. Older children are confident with visitors and eager to share what they know. For example, they try out new Christmas rhymes they have learned and talk about their families' festive plans.

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

• Overall, the manager and staff plan an ambitious curriculum to help all children, especially older children and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, gain a good foundation for learning. Key persons make regular observations which help them to know what children can do and what they need to do next. This helps children to learn the skills they need to be ready for school when the time comes. However, the curriculum plans for babies and younger children are not as clearly defined and sequenced. This means that staff do not always extend children's thinking and developing skills so that they make the best progress possible.
• Staff are enthusiastic and consistently speak to children as they play. They speak directly to them, use a good commentary and lots of repetitive language. This helps to widen children's vocabularies. Staff consistently give children plenty of time to respond to questions. They use singing, action rhymes and stories as part of everyday practice. Staff take time to explore and describe what children can see on the page when they read books.
• Parents speak extremely highly of the nursery and are aware of the good progress their children make. They comment that staff are 'amazing' and regularly share their children's next steps in development and give them ideas of how they can support their children's learning at home. Additionally, parents can use the lending library to take home storybooks to help to encourage their children's skills in speaking and storytelling.
• Staff support children's physical development well. For instance, younger children begin their journey as writers through different opportunities for making marks. Older children attempt to write their names on their drawings and balance baubles on cardboard tubes. Children delight in playing 'chase' in the garden and look for robins and snowflakes. They enjoy seasonal walks out and about in the local community.
• The conscientious manager is sensitive and respectful in supporting staff's well-being. For example, she values their concerns and any ideas for improvements. There is a strong focus on professional development with staff continuing to access regular training. Overall, this has a positive impact on maintaining the good quality of teaching and the continuous improvement of children's learning experiences.
• Children freely explore the broad and exciting activities and there is a good balance of adult-directed and child-led learning. However, as staff prepare for some routines and activities, children sometimes have to wait for long periods until everyone is ready. Children are waiting around, sometimes watching television for short periods, and are disengaged from meaningful play.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide further support for staff who work with the youngest children to implement the curriculum aims throughout the day, to help all children to make the best possible progress
• review the routines of the day to reduce the time that children spend waiting and to fully engage them in their learning.