Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Wing

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

In the short amount of time the manager has been in post she has made multiple positive changes. The curriculum intent is clear and well sequenced with a focus on building children's independence and good communication. The manager is continually reviewing the curriculum to check it is effective in motivating children to learn. All children make good progress in their development, and staff monitor their learning effectively to identify their next steps. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) flourish at the nursery. Staff work effectively with external professionals to help them develop support plans for children. Adaptations in the environment ensure that all children have equal opportunities to access the full curriculum. Children with SEND show tenacity and determination to be right in the heart of learning and activities. Children's empathy and understanding of others mean they readily play and learn together well.

Staff support children's behaviour successfully and are good role models. Children talk about their emotions and how they are feeling. Through using puppets and role play, children express themselves and their strong emotions. Children's behaviour is consistently good. Staff are building on children's social skills further by helping them to learn about good manners and politeness when playing together. This contributes towards the productive and happy atmosphere in the nursery.

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

• The manager has introduced a new curriculum and this is in the early stages of implementation. Staff know what children need to learn and are developing their confidence in putting the ambitious curriculum into action. However, as yet, the positive impact of the changes to what, when and how children learn are not fully evident. Despite this, staff show a high commitment to building on children's learning, and their interactions and teaching sustain children's attention and concentration.
• Staff in the baby room show deep awareness of how children acquire speech and language and are skilled in developing children's communication. They introduce children to new words, repeating and increasing pitch and tone and using exaggerated mouth movements. This successfully encourages young children's motivation to copy and rapidly broadens their vocabulary. Older children develop into confident talkers who express themselves clearly and confidently.
• Children observe closely, discovering activities and taking time to study things that interest them. Staff provide suitable materials for young children to explore instinctively with their mouths. Young children become absorbed in activities, such as exploring 'gloopy' mixtures filled with seeds.
• The manager understands how the COVID-19 pandemic changed ways of working, with many families now working more from home. She recognises that this can lead to some children spending more time with parents and carers in the home, which can affect their confidence in separating from them. As a result, extra attention is paid to ensuring that children and parents have extra support. Parents praise staff's use of an information-sharing app to update them about children's daily activities and development. They feel they are well-informed about children's learning and know how they can support them at home.
• Staff exchange information with parents to help them to understand children's home routines and care needs. However, they do not consistently find out details about children's home lives and previous experiences so they can increase the effectiveness of the key-person relationship.
• Staff ensure that young children follow their home routine for sleeping and feeding. Staff are attentive, flexible and caring. When young children become tired, staff tenderly rub their backs and sit with them,. They talk soothingly until children fall asleep. Staff cuddle babies closely when bottle feeding. They understand about supporting babies moving from breast feeding to bottle feeding and provide sensitive care. Staff are alert to safe and healthy weaning practice, showing their expertise in caring for the youngest children.
• The area manager has good oversight of the nursery. The manager recognises the current difficulties around staff recruitment and how these can have a negative impact on the staff team. The manager and area manager provide staff with suitable support and supervision and encourage them to achieve a good work/life balance. In turn, staff work hard and show a strong desire to increase their knowledge and skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• increase staff confidence in delivering the curriculum intent so it becomes embedded in their practice and is consistently implemented across the nursery
• find out more information about children's home lives and past experiences to build closer partnerships with families and strengthen the key-person relationships even further.