Al-Madina Nursery - Aston

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This is a welcoming, inclusive setting, where children feel happy and safe to explore. Staff plan a range of activities that captivate children's interest and promote development. Toddlers enjoy sensory play, exploring stretchy, sticky textures as staff model new vocabulary. They play hide and seek, counting to five before squealing with excitement when they find their friends. Pre-school children enjoy yoga sessions led by staff. They skilfully practise balancing as they count to 10 while holding a pose then confidently demonstrate their new positions. Staff praise children for their listening and concentration skills. They help pre-school children to develop social and early mathematical skills through play. Children throw and catch different shaped beanbags. Staff teach them the names and properties of shapes as they count the number of sides. Staff embed this learning by encouraging children to recall shapes in their environment.

Staff ensure children with complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make the best possible progress. They work in partnership with other professionals to ensure children receive the specialist support and equipment they need. They make timely referrals to ensure children who need them have education, health and care plans in place to fully prepare for the next stage in their education.

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

• Staff help children to develop a love of books. They take children on visits to the local library and read captivating stories. Children choose to look at books independently. They excitedly select books from nursery to share with parents at home and request favourite books to read again and again. This helps to promote children's early literacy skills.
• Staff arrange the indoor space to enable children to access a range of age-appropriate resources. The outdoor play space is currently under development. This is a small space with limited opportunity for children to participate in high energy play. Saying that, staff plan activities indoors to support large-muscle development. For example, they use climbing frames, stepping stones and balance boards. Furthermore, children join in with music and movement sessions and staff plan regular outings to the local park.
• Staff plan activities to help children learn about the world around them. They invite dentists, police officers and doctors into the setting and visit the local fire station and mosque to learn about people that help them.
• Staff support children to share and take turns. They teach children the language of emotions and the skills to help regulate them. Children point to images of emotions on cushions and tell staff and visitors how they are feeling. They talk to staff about what makes them feel happy and sad.
• Staff promote children's good health and well-being. They support children to make healthy food choices and become increasingly independent with their self-care. Hydration and snuffle stations enable children to access their own drinks and become increasingly independent managing their nasal hygiene.
• Leaders and staff work well as a team. The open-plan design of the setting enables children to get to know all staff. However, staff refer to themselves and other staff as 'teacher' instead of using specific names. This results in some children and parents not knowing their key person's name.
• Parents describe staff as calm, friendly and approachable. They say staff support children with toilet training and language skills. Staff share assessments of children's development with parents in termly parents' evenings and in an online app. However, some parents, particularly those that do not access the app, are unaware of the next steps in their child's learning.
• Leaders go above and beyond to support parents. They organise workshops for parents to learn about children's oral hygiene and the early years curriculum. They offer home visits and staggered settling-in sessions. They seek translators to help communicate with parents who speak English as an additional language. Furthermore, they support transitions to primary schools by liaising with school staff and visiting schools with children's parents.
• Leaders have recruited a highly qualified staff team, who meet children's individual needs. All staff are bilingual and can support the differing language needs of children and parents. Staff model English well and children acquire good levels of English while attending the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the outdoor learning environment further to provide an inviting and stimulating space to promote further learning
• continue to develop parent partnerships to ensure all parents are aware of who their child's key person is and next steps in their child's learning, to enable parents to support and continue children's learning at home.