Alonim Pre-School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive to the nursery after the summer holidays. They are extremely eager to explore the activities that are prepared for them. There is relaxed and welcoming atmosphere within the nursery. This is because staff are remarkably attentive, caring and approachable. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Children are deeply curious and confident learners. Staff get to know children exceptionally well, and cater for their likes and dislikes. They implement very effective settling-in arrangements, which support new children and their families during this time of adaptation. During home visits, staff collect information from parents, which helps them to prepare activities based on children's interests from their first day. For example, children who show interest in caring for babies, bath dolls during water play. Children are motivated and show consistently high levels of concentration and involvement.

Children behave exceptionally well. Staff help them to self-regulate their behaviour in highly effective ways. For example, they share group rules with children and use praise extremely well to support their positive behaviour. Children show their understanding of the rules when they explain them to the new children in a group. Children have very good sharing skills and take turns well. Staff are superb role models of the expected behaviour in the setting. There is a culture of mutual respect, where diversity and inclusion are actively promoted. For example, children learn about the importance of helping those in need and fundraise for special causes. Furthermore, staff extend children's experiences of different cultures exceptionally well through fine art and music. This helps children to learn and gain great understanding about the wider community and cultures beyond their own.

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

• Leaders design an ambitious curriculum, which is based on children's interests and what they need to learn next. Staff ensure that children's learning is sequenced well. For example, younger children have plenty of opportunities to strengthen their small muscles through regular messy play in preparation for more complex tasks, such as writing.
• Staff are passionate and extremely eager to engage with children. There is a strong focus on building secure attachments and helping children to further develop their sense of belonging. Staff teach children the language of feelings especially well. They help them to express their emotions through highly effective strategies, such as helping children to recognise, name and self-regulate their feelings in different situations, including when conflict occurs.
• Staff create many opportunities to develop children's communication and language skills. They support children to extend their vocabulary and engage in meaningful conversations. Children show a great interest in books as they listen to familiar stories being read to them. A staff member, who is a trained specialist in phonics, introduces children to age-appropriate stages of the programme.
• Children practise a wide range of physical skills in the well-organised outdoor area. They climb, jump, balance and use wheeled toys with great confidence. A staff member, who is also an exercise instructor, provides children with extra focus in this area. Children take part in challenging and vigorous movement sessions. This ensures that they learn and practise new skills, and understand more about their bodies. For example, staff explain how our muscles get stronger through regular exercise.
• Children learn about the importance of good health, and the benefits of regular toothbrushing and eating a healthy diet. The provider works exceptionally well with parents to ensure that the packed lunches that children bring meet their dietary needs. Children gain a sense of responsibility and learn to help others when they take the role of a helper during Sabbath celebrations.
• Staff have high expectations for all children. This ensures that children make good progress from their individual starting points in development and are well prepared for their future learning. This includes children who speak English as an additional language. Staff use additional funding to ensure that any gaps in children's learning are closed rapidly.
• Leaders are motivated, ambitious and have a clear vision for the nursery. The manager evaluates the practice regularly and shows a strong commitment to continuous development. Staff feel valued and benefit from regular supervision meetings. They have opportunities to further their professional development through regular training and mentoring. Leaders support the long-serving team effectively.
• Partnerships with parents are very strong. Parents speak highly of the nursery, and praise the caring and loving staff. They comment on how their children have made great progress and how happily they return to the nursery after the summer break.
• On occasion, staff do not plan precisely for some group activities. For example, staff read a story that is too long for younger children, who are new to the setting, and some children leave before the story ends. As a result, the intended learning is not always maximised for all children. However, children are extremely eager to learn and explore. They immediately focus and maintain high levels of concentration on other self-initiated or adult-led activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• reflect on how group activities are planned during the day to ensure that the individual learning of younger children, who are new to the setting, is maximised as much as possible.