Anson Cabin Project

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Giggling can be heard in abundance at this positive and happy nursery. Children arrive with a smile and immediately run with excitement to explore the resources and activities on offer. Staff interact positively with the children and have built caring relationships with them all. For example, children beam with pride as staff sing their names during the welcome song. They jump up and exclaim 'here I am'. Children feel safe and secure.

Children benefit from a curriculum that meets their needs and interests. Staff understand how to adapt their teaching in the moment to ensure that children remain engaged and make progress. When children show an interest in the wind outside, staff blow bubbles and encourage them to observe the way the wind moves them through the air. Children jump up and down with excitement as they try to catch the bubbles as the wind carries them away. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), consistently demonstrate high levels of engagement and make good progress from their starting points.

Children interact happily with each other and enjoy engaging adults in their play. They are learning to independently take turns and share resources. Routines are embedded and children follow these routines with confidence and independence. For example, after children wash their own hands, they put the paper towel in the bin without being asked to do so. Children behave well and are becoming increasingly independent at managing their own personal needs.

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

• Since the last inspection, the manager has developed the nursery's curriculum to ensure that it builds on what children know and can do over time. The manager is now clear on what each individual child needs to learn next and how this will be effectively implemented. The carefully designed curriculum is broad and meets children's learning needs across all areas of the early years foundation stage. Children are developing the skills and knowledge that they will need to be successful in the next stage of their education.
• Staff are passionate about reading to children. They have chosen a range of books that they want children to be familiar with by the time they start school. They read to children and use puppets to act out the story. Children carefully turn the pages of books with their friends and point at the pictures as they describe what is happening in the story. They are developing a love of reading.
• Staff promote children's mathematical development across many activities. They sing number songs to children and talk about how many fish there are in the water tray. Children use mathematical language in their play, describing the sizes of the dinosaurs. Children demonstrate secure knowledge of early mathematical concepts.
• Children with SEND are extremely well supported at this nursery. Staff identify children's needs early and engage with other professionals to ensure that they get the support they need to make optimum progress. Children with SEND make significant progress from their starting points.
• The manager has proactively addressed the areas of weakness raised at the last inspection. She has undertaken a broad range of professional development opportunities, including acting on advice and support from other professionals and the local authority. This has led to rapid improvements in the quality of the provision and has secured consistently good levels of teaching.
• Parents are extremely complimentary about the nursery. They say that their children have made good progress since attending, particularly in their language and confidence. Parents explain that they are given lots of information about what their children are learning. They appreciate the advice that staff give them about how to help their children's development at home. Parents say their children's key person is 'like a second mum' to them.
• Overall, children's language is supported well. Staff model vocabulary to children and expose them to a range of language through singing familiar songs and rhymes. However, staff do not always extend children's language by expanding on what children say or by asking them open-ended questions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• promote further children's communication and language skills by extending the use of open-ended questions and expanding on what children say.