Ann Tayler Children and Family Hub Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children in this nursery thrive in the calm and well-resourced environment. They find plenty of opportunities to follow their interests, both indoors and outside. Staff thoughtfully plan activities and experiences throughout the nursery that enable all children to make excellent progress in their learning and development. Children are self-motivated to extend their knowledge and skills. Staff have high expectations of the progress children can make. Children develop a can-do attitude to solve problems for themselves. Children and adults at this nursery treat each other with respect and kindness, which contributes to a positive learning environment. Staff help children to learn techniques like mindfulness and meditation that can help them manage strong emotions and conflict. This helps children to develop a strong understanding of the behaviour expected of them.

Leaders have identified a range of opportunities in the local area that they can use to broaden children's experiences. For instance, older children visit a local wildlife area to explore the natural environment. Children climb trees confidently, extending their physical skills, and engage with carefully planned activities surrounded by nature. Babies visit the local, well-stocked, greengrocer's, where they can select a range of fruits and vegetables from around the world. These trips are joyous. Staff support children to engage with these opportunities to explore the neighbourhood. This helps children develop their knowledge and understanding of the world.

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

• Staff monitor children's progress through observation and interaction. This helps ensure teaching practice specifically addresses children's individual learning needs. Leaders work closely with parents and other professionals to provide highly targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and English as an additional language (EAL). Staff maximise opportunities to support children to build on what they know and can do. Children are constantly challenged throughout the day, in all aspects of the daily routine.
• Staff have a strong focus on children's communication and language development. They expertly use their training in building children's oracy when they ask incisive questions and give children time to formulate their response. Children love to sing and enjoy books as a group and share their own experiences. For example, in the afternoon, children in the pre-school find the sticks they collected during the morning session in the wildlife area. They describe their sticks and where they found them, demonstrating their strong recall skills and excellent vocabulary.
• There is a strong ethos of inclusion and the leadership team is dedicated to ensuring all children fully benefit from the range of opportunities on offer. Staff gather copious information about children and their previous experiences, so they can meet their physical and developmental needs at nursery. This is particularly relevant to the work staff do to support children with SEND and EAL.
• Leaders have worked with parents to re-establish the parent forum, which had lapsed during the pandemic. Parents value the opportunity to raise any concerns or suggestions through the forum and the positive response from the leadership team. Parents say the detailed reports and frequent face-to-face interactions with their child's key person helps them to support children's learning at home. Parents say their children are extremely happy at nursery and exceptionally ready for school.
• Leaders support staff to reflect on their practice and continually look for ways to enhance children's learning experiences. Staff carefully consider the learning environment in the nursery and identify how to optimise children's engagement. Each team within the nursery develop plans for short- and long-term changes based on their observations of children as they play. This ensures staff meet children's needs, help them to make exceptional progress in their learning and drive improvement across the nursery.
• Like many nursery settings, leaders have faced challenges recruiting the staff they need. Leaders have deployed a number of temporary staff to fulfil roles in the nursery. The induction process has recently been updated to ensure all staff have a secure understanding of the setting-in policies. New staff are matched with a permanent member of staff to support them. This helps ensure consistency and continuity for children.