Applepips Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly as they arrive for the day ahead and display a firm sense of belonging. They thrive under the high level of support and attention that staff pride themselves in providing for the children in their care. Children are safe and secure. They have the freedom to explore in their play and this helps them to build confidence in their new skills and learning. Children behave well. They are developing higher levels of resilience and understanding in managing their own emotions under the role-modelling of the staff team. Children are kind and caring. They are starting to understand and recognise the differences and similarities in themselves and others.

Children are excited learners who benefit greatly from the curriculum that is effectively planned to support their progress. They eagerly participate in planned activities and in the wide range of resources provided for them. Older children are very independent and babies are supported to help them to quickly develop these skills. For instance, children are able to dress themselves for outside play, and practise with the school uniforms in the dress up area. This helps them to master more challenging tasks, such as buttons and zips. Babies are starting to feed themselves at mealtimes under the gently encouragement of the staff team.

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

• The manager and the deputy manager form a strong leadership team. Staff feel valued, and that they are a large part of the vision and ethos of the nursery. Staff receive regular supervisions to help them to reflect on their own practice and be involved in planning for their own professional development. All staff attend training, which improves their knowledge. For example, a recent course has helped to strengthen staff understanding of how to support the development of much younger children and babies more fully.
• Children make good and steady progress. Their development is observed closely to ensure that potential gaps in their learning are identified swiftly. Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who receive funding and children who have English as an additional language are provided with more targeted support, to ensure they reach their fullest potential. The manager understands the importance of sharing information with other professionals to provide children with a joined-up approach to their development.
• Partnerships with parents are strong, and this remains an area for continual strengthening from the leadership team. The team takes pride in the relationships they build with parents to support children, both at the setting and when at home. Regular meetings take place, which helps parents to feel fully involved with their child's successes and to be a part of the planning for the next steps in children's learning.
• Children are gaining good physical skills. Babies fill containers with dried pasta to support their developing hand-to-eye coordination. All children have regular access to the outdoors for fresh air and exercise. Older children take part in weekly physical development sessions, which helps to build on their spatial awareness and to learn about managing simple risks in their play. However, other learning opportunities in the outdoors are not as enthralling for children as the indoors, to support those who prefer to learn in this environment. As such, children are not as engaged or involved in their own independent play.
• The manager uses the process of self-evaluation well. She prioritises capturing the suggestions and ideas of children, staff and parents to clearly identify areas for improvement. For example, there is a focus on strengthening planned activities to increase children's early literacy skills and their enjoyment of books. The manager has worked well towards the recommendations set at the last inspection. For instance, staff have improved their understanding of how to more fully support children's communication and language.
• Older children enjoy being part of large group art and craft activities. They use their increasing memory and recall skills, as they draw a fire engine together and show confidence in sharing their own ideas. However, opportunities for babies and younger children to be creative in their play and learning are not as well planned as they are for older children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the outdoor learning environment to provide learning experiences that are rich, varied and stimulating, particularly for those children who prefer to learn outdoors
• plan more opportunities for babies and younger children to be creative in their play and learning.