Ashington Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe, secure and display trusting bonds with the staff team. New children and babies are supported well to settle into the nursery routine, and immediately seek the reassurance of their key worker if they become unsure or upset. They are building on their own independence and making healthy choices in the foods they eat. Children are encouraged to serve themselves at mealtimes and older children are given the responsibility of clearing up. Babies attempt to use additional spoons provided to help them build on their increasing skills in learning to feed themselves.

Children are confident and self-assured. They enjoy the many activities and play opportunities provided for them. Children play outdoors in all weathers to support their learning and well-being. Babies use their increasing balance as they crawl and walk around, and older children negotiate space as they use wheeled toys and bicycles. Children are learning about the wider world around them as they enter into discussions with staff and each other about bulbs they have planted. Older children involve babies in their play and this helps all children to build important social skills for their future learning.

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

• The manager, who is new to her position, has high aspirations and a vision for the nursery and the learning opportunities for all children. She uses self-evaluation well to identify areas for change and improvement. For example, there are plans underway to improve and upgrade all environments within the nursery to make them more inviting and welcoming for children and parents.
• Children explore with early mathematics in their learning as they complete jigsaw puzzles and build towers with coloured bricks. Older children are starting to recognise numbers and the quantity of items. Staff help to introduce simple numbers as they read books with babies and point to different characters in the story.
• Parents speak highly of the level of support, care and dedication their children receive. They talk about the team's professionalism and how happy staff are regarding their roles and responsibilities. However, current systems are not fully effective in sharing information with all parents. There are times when parents are not clear about their children's progress, which affects their ability to support their children at home.
• Children make good and steady progress. Staff carefully watch their development and plan challenging next steps for children's learning, in line with their own interests. Children who receive funding are provided with targeted support to help them to succeed to the best of their ability. Staff meet regularly to plan activities to build on children's increasing abilities and encourage them to make their own choices in their play and learning. For instance, resources are stored at child level for all age groups, which children can see and choose for themselves.
• Staff place an importance on supporting and encouraging children's communication and language. At story time, older children excitedly discuss the autumn items they have collected with their families while out on walks. They use good descriptive words such as 'scrunchy' and 'fragile' as they discuss leaves. Staff support babies developing communication by constantly repeating different words and sounds. Staff use home language keywords to support children who speak English as an additional language.
• Overall, children behave well. Staff provide explanations and use role modelling to help children to understand about acceptable behaviours and boundaries. Younger children receive gentle reminders of how to share and learn to play with others. However, occasionally, unwanted behaviour is not dealt with swiftly due to the organisation of staff within the pre-school room. This does not fully support children to increase their abilities to recognise and manage their own emotions.
• Staff have regular supervision meetings to support their own practice and feel valued. The manager plans well for professional development opportunities, to help staff to continuously raise their knowledge and understanding. For example, recent training has helped them to be more reflective in supporting babies' development and to further explore how to encourage each child's individual learning characteristics.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance systems for more effective sharing of information with parents about their children's learning and development
• review staff organisation to further support children's behaviour and their ability to control their own emotions.