Arnold House Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident and demonstrate a strong sense of belonging in the nursery. They arrive eager to explore and settle quickly, supported by an effective key-person system that ensures secure attachments and emotional well-being. Staff know the children exceptionally well, understanding their interests, home lives and family circumstances. This allows them to provide targeted support that meets each child's individual needs. Staff provide daily opportunities for children to build strength, coordination and control, indoors and outdoors. In the garden, children confidently balance along planks and tyres, carefully negotiating the uneven surfaces. This develops their core stability, balance and spatial awareness. Children make good progress throughout their time at nursery.

Staff encourage the children to explore and persist with challenges. For example, when toddlers fit shapes into a box, they comment to their friends, 'It's a bit tricky,' and support each other to keep on trying. Staff praise their efforts, which keeps them motivated to continue. Staff are skilled storytellers and bring stories alive as they read to children. They ask children purposeful questions about the events in the story. Children are eager to offer ideas as to what might happen next and engage in conversations about the characters in the book. Staff place a strong emphasis on promoting children's communication and language skills. Children eagerly learn and use the sign of the week. Staff speak clearly to children and sensitively support the correct pronunciation of words. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. There are golden rules in place that children are reminded about. For example, pre-school children creep down the stairs after lunch so as not to wake the sleeping babies. They show care and respect for others.

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

• All children enjoy freshly prepared nutritious meals throughout the day. The on-site cook is familiar with individual dietary needs. Mealtimes are a social occasion where children sit together, chat and enjoy each other's company in a relaxed environment. They take their time to eat while sharing ideas of what they would like to do at nursery.
• Leaders plan a curriculum that supports children's continued learning. Staff understand what children need to learn at each stage of their development. They use their observations and assessments to plan for children's next steps in learning. However, staff do not consistently provide all children with the same learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. For example, at snack time, the first group of children explore the fruit, describing the appearance, size and texture. They have a go at cutting and learn about 'whole' and 'half'. The next group of children are given the snack already pre-cut. At this time, they do not explore the fruit or learn about mathematical concepts as the others do.
• Staff provide activities within the daily routine to help children develop their independence. Toddlers and pre-school children learn to pour their own drinks. They are encouraged to have a go at zips and buttons as they dress themselves. This helps children to do as much as possible for themselves. However, staff do not encourage children to tidy away resources after they have finished with them. For example, staff pick things up for children when they discard toys on the floor without encouraging children to do this themselves. Therefore, children are not always supported to learn how to care for their environment or the resources within it.
• Parents speak very positively about the care and support their children receive. They have confidence that staff understand and meet their children's individual needs. Staff ensure communication is open and effective, keeping parents well informed about their child's day and developmental progress. Parents value the way the setting helps prepare their children for school, especially in promoting independence, confidence, social skills and language development.
• Staff report high levels of support and well-being. All staff have regular supervisions and are provided with opportunities to access relevant training. New staff are guided through the expectations of the nursery and have regular check-ins with leaders. As a result, staff understand the nursery policies and procedures. This helps to keep children safe within the nursery.
• Staff are deployed effectively to ensure the safe supervision of children. They understand their responsibilities to keep children safe, including whistle-blowing and how to escalate concerns about the behaviour and conduct of other staff. Leaders have oversight of incidents, which are meticulously investigated, and immediate action is taken to strengthen practice and reduce potential risks.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adapt staff practice so that children receive the same opportunities to experience new learning and gain new knowledge and skills
• help children develop responsibility for their environment and care for shared resources.