Aktiva Nurseries, Oakfield

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this friendly and nurturing nursery. They develop strong attachments with their key person and staff, which helps children to feel safe, secure and ready to learn. Children are well behaved and are consistently praised for acts of kindness and achievements. They proudly explain to visitors that they are the helper or 'health and safety spy' for the day. As a result, children demonstrate that they are developing confidence and self-esteem in social situations. Younger children benefit from a consistent routine that mirrors what they have at home.

Children receive a range of opportunities and experiences that broaden their skills and knowledge. Staff use interesting topics or themes and build on the children's interests. For example, babies delight in exploring winter animal scenes and dough. They show their excitement as they feel and explore the different textures. Older children concentrate intensely as they pour and fill containers of sand and water. They operate various tools to make different shapes or cakes with their dough. This strengthens children's hands and finger muscles, which supports their early writing skills. Children have daily access to the outdoor areas. Older children benefit from planned walks and trips to the local area and parks. These opportunities help children learn more about their community and the wider world.

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

• Leaders and managers have worked hard and closely with local authority advisers to implement positive changes. As a result, they have addressed all the actions raised as the last inspection and have made effective and significant improvements to strengthen safety in the nursery.
• Staff plan a broad curriculum. Overall, staff place a great focus on supporting children's communication and language development. They read stories with enthusiasm, narrate the children's play and introduce new words, such as 'stomp', in the dinosaur swamp. However, staff have not considered ways to fully excite children's creative expression, particularly in young children's role play, so they can explore and experiment with interesting objects or materials to develop their own ideas.
• The special educational needs coordinator is knowledgeable about ensuring children's individual needs are prioritised. She works confidently with external agencies and has implemented effective strategies to provide early intervention where required. This supports all children to make progress in their development.
• Overall, teaching is meaningful. Children demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning experiences. Staff challenge children's abilities and check their understanding of what they are being taught, to help them make further progress in their learning. However, at times, staff do not ensure that all children, in particular the quieter or shy children, are fully engaged and benefit from the learning opportunities.
• Staff encourage older children to understand the importance of good oral hygiene. For example, children learn how to brush templates of teeth and consider the benefits of healthy eating. This supports children's physical well-being and their understanding of leading a healthy lifestyle.
• Children benefit from a balanced and nutritious menu. Additionally, children's independence is promoted well. Children are encouraged to feed themselves and pour their own drinks. This results in older children having greater control when scooping up and twisting spaghetti onto a fork. This promotes children's self-care skills in preparation for school.
• Leaders regularly observe staff practice and provide feedback on their strengths and areas they can improve. Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings. They receive targeted support and training to help raise the quality of their practice and skills. Staff talk confidently about their workload being managed and feel their well-being is effectively supported. Staff work well together as a team and share ideas and information about the children. The manager and leaders are passionate; they focus effectively on inclusive and good-quality education for all children.
• Staff have developed strong partnerships with parents. Parents speak highly of staff. They report that communication is excellent and they feel that their children are safe and well cared for. Parents say that staff keep them informed about their children's learning and progress. Additional activities, such as stories read on social media platforms and a book lending library, are also provided for parents to support children's learning at home. This supports children's learning further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop ways to support children's creative expression so they can explore and experiment with their own ideas, particularly in young children's pretend play
• consider more closely how to monitor and adapt activities to ensure that all children, in particular quieter children, can fully engage and benefit from the learning opportunities.