Activ8 Nursery Henfield

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show confidence as they arrive at the setting. They know where to hang their belongings and put their coats in a basket, ready to go outside. Children have positive relationships and play cooperatively with their friends. Furthermore, babies and very young children have secure attachments with the adults that care for them. This gives babies confidence to join in with exploring textures using paint and other sensory play experiences.

The areas accessible to children are well-organised. This supports them to make their own choices and explore the activities on offer. Experiences are thoughtfully set up with open-ended resources that capture children's curiosity. They relish challenge, which contributes towards their developing problem-solving skills. For example, children show a keen interest in comparing their heights with one another. They work together to determine between friends who is taller and who is shorter. They proceed to negotiate lining up according to size, starting from the smallest to the tallest. This exposes children to mathematical concepts of sequencing and using size language.

On the whole, children behave well. At times, they experience minor altercations with their friends. However, staff support them to overcome any upset between themselves and remind them about the 'golden rules'. This helps children start to understand the impact of their behaviour.

Children delight in engaging in group games, such as 'Simon says'. They concentrate and listen well to instructions given by a friend to reconstruct a variety of movements. Children all participate and learn how to move their bodies in different ways to develop their gross motor skills.

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

• Leaders work hard to improve the provision and address the weaknesses raised at the last inspection. Staff receive support and guidance to help them understand and plan for what children need to learn. Furthermore, leaders model practice to less-experienced staff to help them develop teaching skills. This enables them to implement an effective curriculum to help all children make good progress in their learning and development.
• Children who need extra help to catch up receive support through setting-based plans and referrals to outside agencies. Targeted planning identifies strategies that staff refer to and share with families. This ensures that children have interventions in place to help prepare them for their next stage in education.
• Children of all ages have experiences that support their language skills and extend their vocabulary. This includes babies snuggling up with a member of staff while having a board book read to them. Older children engage in back- and-forth conversations during their play, sharing stories and singing songs. Children are keen to talk to friends and staff about their personal experiences from home, as well as to share their views. However, there are some occasions when staff ask children questions but do not always give them enough time to think in order to respond. At times, not all staff use children's responses to consider how they can extend their learning to the highest level. Despite this, children show they have a good command of language and continue to make sound progress.
• Staff support children to consider how they need to stay safe when they go out to the larger field beyond their garden area. Children have positive attitudes to learning and listen to the rules. Once outside, they concentrate while filling jugs, ready to water the vegetables growing in the garden planters. Children use recall to talk about what they know. They explain to adults that they cannot see the seeds as they are underground, but they know the seeds need water and sun to grow. Children continue to show fascination in exploring the outdoors. They use magnifying glasses to look at features of items they have collected, including acorns, twigs and leaves. This supports children to learn about the natural world and changes over time.
• Children show confidence in developing their independence skills. They wash their hands and pour their own drinks from small jugs at snack time. Occasionally, staff take the lead when helping children with self-help tasks. However, with support, children could practise doing these by themselves.
• Staff support children, through storytelling and discussion, to talk about how they feel. Children use an emotions board and puppet toys to express how they are feeling to others. This contributes to children learning how to cope when faced with minor setbacks and builds on their emotional resilience skills.
• Parents speak highly about the support they receive from the nursery. They explain that communication is effective, providing them information about the progress their children are making. Parents comment on using the lending library, which further supports and embeds a love of reading at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's teaching skills in questioning techniques to allow children time to think and respond
• provide extension opportunities that offer even more challenge to support children's learning so they can reach their highest potential
• consistently encourage children to do things for themselves and develop their independence skills and sense of responsibility to the highest level.