Amazing Owls Educational Play

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and content. They separate from their parents confidently and are keen to play with their friends. Children form very close bonds with staff and form good friendships with other children. Children are motivated and eager to learn. They enthusiastically fill containers with sand and persevere with making sandcastles. Staff encourage children to think about size and counting. Children excitedly talk about their pets and those belonging to staff. They remember pet names and show quantity using their fingers. For example, children recall that staff have three dogs and show this using their fingers. Children show good physical endurance as they climb equipment outside. For example, they climb rope ladders and climb over a log stack, counting the logs they climb. This promotes their communication, mathematical and physical skills effectively.

Children show high levels of confidence as they greet visitors and are well behaved towards one another. They follow familiar routines at the setting and demonstrate good listening and attention skills. For example, children come inside and wash their hands after playing outdoors. They sit on the carpet at group time and join in with stories and familiar rhymes. They sit and wait patiently at the table for their lunch.

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

• Children develop a love of books. Staff are skilled at capturing children's interest in stories and provide an inviting reading area, where children handle books with care. Children listen intently as staff read stories in an expressive way. Children repeat familiar phrases and recall stories within their play. They enjoy telling their version of a familiar story to adults.
• The manager recognises the impact the pandemic has had on some children's social and emotional development. In light of this, she supports staff to help children to manage their emotions. For example, children say when they feel scared. Staff give them the opportunity to discuss this further on a one-to-one basis and as a group. Children use good vocabulary, which helps to prepare them with many of the skills they need for their next stages of their learning.
• Staff do not consistently extend children's communication and language skills during all activities, to help ensure that they achieve to their highest potential. Occasionally, some staff do not allow children enough time to consider questions and formulate a response for themselves.
• Staff engage and motivate children to learn. For example, they enthusiastically talk to children about a story. However, staff do not make the most of opportunities to pronounce words correctly for children, so that they can hear the correct model.
• Children play in the stimulating outdoor area with enthusiasm. They show high levels of independence in their play. They climb and balance, demonstrating their good control and coordination. Staff remain close by and encourage children to be careful with their footing. This enables children to challenge themselves and gain a good awareness of taking small risks. Staff support children's physical development extremely well.
• Staff promote positive behaviour with children. They give them lots of praise for their achievements, helping to raise their self-esteem. Staff take time to explain to children what is expected of them. They use hand gestures and sign language positively. This helps children to behave well.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff gather information about children's abilities when they first start. They regularly review children's progress with parents using a variety of methods. The manager and staff have communicated well with parents throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents have been kept up to date with timetables and stories being read. Parents comment positively about the information they receive.
• The manager and staff are ambitious and dedicated to making this nursery the best it can be. They monitor children's progress well. Staff say they feel valued and are happy in their role. They are well organised and committed to improving their knowledge with training and qualifications. The manager reflects on the quality of the provision regularly and provides staff with supervision meetings.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve questioning skills that extend children's thinking and learning even further
• extend opportunities for children to hear the correct pronunciation of words.