Alvaston Achievers Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery happy and full of confidence. Pre-school children know their routine and quickly take off their coats, put their lunch boxes on the trolley and recognise their name. They decide whether to play inside or outside, and play with an activity of their choice. Two-year-old children climb up and down ramps and pedal tricycles around the garden safely. Pre-school children balance on logs and chase each other pretending to be superheroes and monsters.

Children are eager to learn and they behave well. They take part in activities planned by staff. For example, pre-school children develop their small muscle skills as they cut up vegetables, learning to use a knife carefully. They repeat the names of vegetables and talk about where they grow. Staff encourage the children to count the carrots they have cut, and children know they are cutting the cabbage in half. To extend this activity, children pretend to make soup and explore paint by printing with the vegetables. Two-year-old children relish playing with the toy animals. They stomp them around the tray and put them on top of and underneath blocks, learning how to use positional language. They make animal noises and roar loudly like a lion.

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

• The manager and staff know the children well. They implement a curriculum which encourages children to explore and investigate. This is evident across the nursery as children take part in many activities to develop their senses. Children relish exploring the properties of sand and water. They swirl paint around and enjoy digging in the soil. They strengthen their fingers and hands as they pour, and fill buckets and containers.
• Staff promote children's language skills. They provide children with narratives of what they are doing and repeat words to help children to pronounce words correctly. Staff in the pre-school room introduce words such as symmetrical, as they compare the patterns on the butterflies. However, some staff ask too many questions and do not give the children time to answer. This means children do not have sufficient time to process the question and respond to staff. Consequently, staff are not supporting children to fully develop their speaking and thinking skills.
• Staff interact and support children well overall, which enables children to enjoy their learning. However, at times, in the pre-school room staff do not manage the organisation of whole-group activities effectively to meet children's learning needs. This is evident as staff interrupt children's play and ask them to clean their teeth. This activity takes too long. Children become disengaged and fidget while they wait, some children do not listen and others talk among themselves.
• Staff support children to manage their behaviour. They give clear rules and encourage children to share and take turns. Unwanted behaviour is swiftly dealt with by staff in an appropriate way. Children are developing skills for their next stage of learning and eventual move to school. They learn to be independent. They wash and dry their hands after using the bathroom, and before eating. They learn to open their lunch boxes and clear away afterwards.
• Partnership with parents is strong. Staff use an online system and face-to-face communication well, to inform parents about children's care and learning. They work closely with parents and other professionals. This helps them to find the best ways to help individual children to catch up with their peers. Parents report that they are happy with the service they receive. Staff find out about the experiences children have at home and plan activities to broaden these; for example, some children live in flats with no gardens. Therefore, staff take children into the local woodlands and the park to feed the ducks so the children can learn about nature.
• The manager carries out regular observations and staff appraisals. She supports staff in their professional development. Staff benefit from good training opportunities to develop and improve their practice. For instance, some staff have recently attended training to develop using sign language in the nursery. This is to help all children to communicate further, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to improve their questioning techniques and give children more time to think and respond to questions they are asked
• review the organisation of whole-group activities in the pre-school room to support all children to remain engaged and interested in their learning.