Alphabet City Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery stands out for its warm, welcoming and homely environment. Staff know the children well, which helps them to support their individual needs. Staff create a safe and supportive space where children feel valued and respected. They ensure that all children, regardless of any additional needs or individual challenges, receive the necessary support.

Staff set clear expectations of what children can achieve before they transition through the nursery. They promote positive attitudes by encouraging curiosity, resilience, independence and respect for others. For instance, staff actively find out children's individual celebrations and support these throughout the year. These actions help children to value their different life experiences, understand the wider world and learn about the similarities and differences of others. Children behave well and follow the structure and routines of the day.

Overall, children enjoy a well-balanced curriculum that supports their interests and learning. Babies confidently explore the environment around them. They show delight as they move push-along toys around the outside space. This supports babies' physical development and spatial awareness as they negotiate obstacles in their learning environment. Toddlers and pre-school children use their imagination well and enjoy construction, drawing with a range of mediums and role play. Older children develop good attention and listening skills. Staff provide ongoing commentary, repeating words and phrases that children use. Sign language and pictorial images are used to further enhance communication skills. Children engage and remain intently focussed as staff lead story and singing activities. Children leave the nursery feeling confident, capable and ready for the next stage in their educational journey.

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

• Leaders and staff are passionate about their roles and ways to continuously develop children's learning. They work well together and share the setting's ethos and vision. There is a strong focus on staff's well-being and recognising achievements. Staff feel well supported in their roles and morale is high.
• Staff use close links with members of the community to enhance children's experiences, knowledge and skills. For instance, children learn about the wider community by visiting a local church and a fruit and vegetable stall to buy produce for snack time. Furthermore, there are good initiatives for fundraising, such as for the fire fighters' charity, supporting the local food bank and helping the 'toy drive' for a local hospital.
• Staff ensure that children receive daily opportunities to be outside, where they develop many skills. Children take a keen interest in nature and the world around them. When they find minibeasts, staff quickly help them to identify which bug they have found. They use magnifying glasses to take a closer look. Children show skills in carefully pouring sand and water from one container to another. Staff support children to use language such as 'more' and learn new vocabulary, such as 'squidgy' and 'shake'.
• Leaders support staff in planning for the children's next stages in learning and effectively build on their experiences across the ambitious curriculum. Staff work with enthusiasm and take pride in the care and learning they provide. Communication and language development is a key priority in the nursery. However, on occasion, staff do not always consistently challenge less-confident learners and offer children enough time for deeper thinking opportunities to extend problem-solving skills.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to make good progress. Leaders are good role models and support staff to plan and implement effective intervention activities, which target children's individual needs. Staff work effectively in partnership with external agencies and professionals, which helps children get the support they need to thrive.
• Staff encourage children to be independent from a young age, such as feeding and dressing themselves. They are encouraged to taste new foods they may not have tried before from the freshly-cooked nutritious menu. They have discussions about 'what is on my plate' to support children's understanding of a variety of foods and where they come from.
• Leaders and staff have formed strong relationships with parents. They encourage families to be actively involved in children's development, such as by providing parent packs. This encourages parents to support children's learning at home. Staff use a variety of communication methods to keep parents informed about their children's care and learning. Parents speak highly of the staff and the effective communication they receive.
• Leaders ensure that staff access a varied professional development programme that builds on their existing knowledge. They receive effective supervision sessions and feedback to continually improve their practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's modelling of language and questioning techniques, to further extend children's thinking and problem-solving skills.