Ashgrove Park Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and excited to arrive at nursery. They eagerly go inside, ready to see their friends and start learning. They are greeted by warm, friendly, enthusiastic staff who clearly love working with children. Babies routines from home are followed, and they form close bonds with their key person, helping them to feel secure. Staff have high expectations, and all children are making good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Learning is tailored to children's individual needs and interests. Children are enthusiastic to learn and to share their new knowledge. For example, children excitably talk about the tadpoles in the garden, explaining how they will grow legs and turn into frogs.

Children are kind and caring and behave very well. Staff set high expectations for their behaviour, and support them in resolving minor conflicts. For example, if children are disagreeing, staff help them to talk about what the problem is, and how they can resolve it together. Children have good relationships with each other and with staff. Children can choose to play inside or outside, with many opportunities to develop their physical skills. For example, they can climb on the climbing frame, ride a bike, or make marks with water and paint brushes.

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

• Leadership and management is very strong. Leaders are clear on what they would like to achieve and are constantly evaluating to make improvements. They successfully manage the staff, and the long established team speaks highly of them. They support new staff well, with a thorough induction programme, providing training to ensure all staff have the skills they need to provide consistency of care. For example, new staff have training on the planning programme and positive behaviour management techniques used in the nursery.
• Staff foster children's independence well. Children serve themselves at mealtimes, and scrape off their plates when they have finished. They put on their coats and shoes before outdoor play, using the 'magic way'. Staff support children in doing up their zips, starting it off for them, so they can feel a sense of achievement when they do it up themselves. These skills help to prepare them for their next stage of learning.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery, staff and management. They comment that communication is good, so they know what their children have been doing, and what they can do to help their children develop further.
• Children demonstrate that they have a good understanding of the routines of the day. Babies stop and listen when staff start singing the tidy up song, and understand what is happening next. However, the organisation of some routines means that children sometimes spend a long time waiting for daily tasks, such as mealtimes, so miss out on time for purposeful learning.
• Staff promote children's speech and language development effectively through the use of songs, and stories. They introduce new vocabulary and encourage children to communicate. For example, they offer children a choice of fruit at snack time, encouraging them to name the fruit they would like. However, children are sometimes asked a number of questions, which they are unable to answer. At times, staff do not encourage children's conversation skills to develop children's language further.
• Children are kind and caring towards each other. They play with each other well and share toys. For example, at the playdough table, when new children join in, existing children happily share the playdough, with very little input from adults. Children smile and say thank you when they receive the playdough.
• Staff respect children's needs, listening to their words and watching their actions, so they can understand what children want. For example, staff ask babies if they can change their nappy, if babies cry out, say no or move away, staff ask the next baby, and come back to the first one when they are ready. Older children can choose to play inside or outside, the majority of the day. Children are happy and feel valued.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation during key routines of the day to reduce waiting times for children and maximise their time spent in purposeful play
• build on staff's teaching skills to support children's conversation and language even more.