Annabel's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and kind, caring staff greet them. Children are polite and behave well. The curriculum focus on building mutual respect and kindness runs through the nursery. For example, children learn that their voice matters. The children's 'pre-school council' share their ideas about things they like to do at the nursery and things they would like to change. As a result of children's suggestions, staff have improved the polytunnel area outside. Older children play cooperatively. For example, they fill bowls from the tap outside to make a 'shower' for a dinosaur. Babies learn to take turns as they climb the stairs in the soft-play area, which helps to build their social skills.

Children are imaginative and use language well. Pre-school children tell staff they are making a potion to turn them into pirates. Staff support children to develop their vocabulary. For example, when children pour water on the mud, staff explain it has been 'absorbed'. Babies repeat words and copy actions as staff sing, which helps to develop their communication skills. Children demonstrate motivation to learn. For example, toddlers concentrate for long periods considering ways to use a tall tube. They create a ramp, a telescope and then stand it up and count how many building blocks fit inside. Children are well prepared for the next stage in their education, including school.

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

• Leaders and managers have made significant improvements to the nursery since the last inspection. All staff have attended training to ensure they have a good understanding of how to protect children's welfare. The manager has worked closely with the local authority to improve recruitment processes. As a result, there is now a strong culture of safeguarding.
• The manager organises a broad curriculum centred on developing children's communication, social and emotional skills. Staff use assessment well to check what children already know and can do to inform their teaching. They organise activities linked to children's individual needs and interests, which promote children's focus and positive engagement in learning.
• Children enjoy a variety of physical activities to help keep them fit and healthy. For example, older children run, balance and jump in the garden. Babies climb in the soft-play area and copy the actions as staff sing songs to help build their muscles, balance and stability.
• Children develop a love of reading. Toddlers listen intently as staff read stories, joining in with the parts they know. For example, staff read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', and children blow on the picture of the porridge, saying it is 'too hot'. This helps to develop their communication and literacy skills.
• All children enjoy sensory exploration with a variety of materials to build their confidence and creativity. For example, toddlers fill cups and scoop coloured rice and pre-school children use their hands to explore the inside of a pumpkin.
• Children learn to be independent in preparation for school. For example, older children clear away their own plates after eating and wipe their own noses. Staff support children sensitively to learn to manage their own toileting.
• The special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator has a strong commitment to ensuring children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive the support they need. Staff work closely with external agencies to put any necessary interventions in place to help ensure all children make good progress. Any additional funding received is used with integrity to meet the needs of the children for whom it is intended.
• Children benefit from good-quality interactions with staff to help develop their learning. However, on occasion, staff are quick to solve problems for children, rather than encouraging them to find solutions for themselves. For example, staff quickly intervene to fit the train track together when children are unable to do so. This limits the opportunities for children to solve problems and test out their own ideas.
• Parents report that they are happy with the care and learning their children receive. They state that they feel well informed about their children's learning and development through regular feedback from staff. However, some parents say that they would value more information about how they can support their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to engage with children in a way that promotes children's deeper thinking and helps them learn how to solve problems for themselves
• extend communication with parents further to include ways that they can support their children's learning at home.