All Aboard Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy to work alongside staff to complete tasks. For instance, they are keen to tidy away toys and resources before they get others out. Children behave well and receive gentle reminders from staff to use good manners. When older children want to pass others, they say 'excuse me.' During group times, children are supported to understand that they need to take turns in conversations with others.

Staff know the children well and plan activities that help them to progress in their development. Children show a positive attitude to learning. They listen and follow instructions. For example, when staff read two-year-old children a story, they eagerly join in with repeated phrases. Children point out familiar pictures in a book about transport vehicles and boats. They learn new words such as 'barge'. This helps to extend children's developing vocabulary.

One-year-old children are excited to explore and investigate their surroundings safely. They show great determination and concentration, for example when they complete puzzles. Children think of ways to turn puzzle pieces around to make them fit, with minimal support from staff. Staff encourage three- and four-year-old children to remember what they have learned previously. Children recall that a tiger is the animal that links to Chinese New Year. They remember that staff have previously told them that a tiger can run at 30 miles per hour.

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

• The manager and staff plan a curriculum that gives children the skills they need for future learning. This includes encouraging older children to develop their mathematical skills, such as understanding and using positional language. For example, staff ask children to find an object that they have hidden, and to describe where they found it. Children find a toy tiger and tell staff that they found it 'under there'.
• Staff communicate frequently with parents about their children's progress and daily experiences. They support parents to continue to support their children's development at home. For example, older children have opportunities to take home learning bags. These bags include activities for parents to support children with their counting and communication, such as using rhymes. Staff support parents of younger children and provide ideas for children to be creative and to engage in messy play activities at home.
• Staff provide older children with plenty of opportunities to help develop their balance and coordination. Children confidently walk across wooden planks in the garden. However, staff do not always think about ways to encourage the development of younger children's large-muscle skills. For instance, when one- year-old children show an interest in climbing on objects, staff do not always give them opportunities to extend these skills further.
• Parents speak highly of staff. They say that staff have helped children to develop in confidence and to write their own name.
• Staff plan activities to encourage children's communication and language skills. One example of this is when staff ask older children to put their hands in a bag and to describe the objects they feel. Children use words such as 'bumpy' and 'spikey' to describe a hairbrush.
• The manager supports staff through regular meetings. This helps staff to reflect on their own practice and to identify further training opportunities. Recent training helps staff to extend their knowledge of how to manage children's behaviour. For example, staff use distraction techniques if very young children display negative behaviour. They encourage older children to share toys and to understand how themselves and others may be feeling.
• The managers and staff work closely with parents, and involve other professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Targeted plans are in place to help meet the needs of individual children, for example to support their developing speaking skills. The manager receives specialist training to meet children's individual health needs.
• The nursery cook offers children a range of healthy foods. Meal and snack times are sociable occasions where staff support children to learn how to complete tasks on their own. For example, staff encourage one-year-old children to drink from a cup. They provide hand-over-hand support to show three- and four-year-old children how to use a knife and fork correctly.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's knowledge of how to enhance opportunities for younger children to extend their large-muscle skills.