Ashworth View Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children happily arrive to the welcoming nursery and are greeted by familiar staff. Children settle quickly and feel confident to explore their surroundings immediately. They make choices in their play and create their own tasks. For example, children view photos on the wall of prior learning. They remember this learning and repeat making patterns with small wooden parts. Babies show high levels of curiosity during their play. Staff help them to blow bubbles into the air and talk about the texture of warm foamy water as they 'drip, drip, drip' it onto their hands. This helps to develop their sensory awareness and builds on their early language skills.

Children are kind to each other and consistently adhere to expected boundaries in the nursery. They confidently discuss the 'golden rules' with the inspector and know how to treat their peers with respect. Children are independent and know how to care for themselves, such as washing their hands and brushing their teeth. Babies have a go at feeding themselves. They are and are highly praised when they achieve new goals, such as taking their first steps around the room. Older children know how to play safely. They tell the inspector, 'We can only play on the pirate ship when it is sunny, not when it rains because it will be slippy.'

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

• Leaders create a sequenced curriculum that helps children to move through their individual stages of development. In the main, staff plan and implement high-quality experiences for children to take part in and learn new skills. On occasion, staff do not recognise and respond to some children's emerging needs and interests. This sometimes leads to children disengaging from play.
• Most staff understand their roles and responsibilities to support children's learning and well-being. They say that there is a good level of supervision from leaders and their well-being is supported. However, leaders have not recognised all staff's developmental needs through robust monitoring systems. This means that some staff do not increase their skills to the highest level, or effectively embed knowledge gained through training.
• Although relationships with children's families are well established and parents are extremely happy with the care and support that their children receive, some parents are unclear about how to continue their children's development at home. Leaders are developing systems to help to engage all parents to aid their understanding of how they can further progress their children's learning.
• Staff assess children's development closely and use this to inform their planning of activities and experiences. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from the start. The use of an additional language assessment tool alongside progress checks for children helps to identify any gaps in speaking more swiftly. Staff implement individual plans to help to support delays in children's learning effectively.
• In the main, staff know how to model clear language with children, and continuously comment on children's play to increase their exposure to new words. This helps children to learn new vocabulary and gain a thorough understanding of language. Staff give children time to think about their own responses. They have a range of opportunities to solve their own problems and develop good thinking skills.
• Children practice self-care and independence skills, such as serving their own lunch. Additionally, older children concentrate in group phonics sessions. They learn how to read and write short words. This helps their literacy skills. Children write their names with care and accuracy on chalk boards in the outdoor area. Children are supported well to gain the skills they need for their move to school and their future lives.
• Children flourish in the large outdoor space. They run, negotiate space, climb and balance. This helps to develop their large physical skills and enables them to have lots of fresh air daily. Staff are aware of those children who prefer quieter play, and provide 'work stations' outside for them to concentrate on the more-focused tasks that they enjoy. This helps them to continue to engage in learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the monitoring and support systems to ensure that all staff can embed their knowledge into practice effectively, right from the start
• expose all children to a consistently ambitious curriculum that helps to meet all their individual needs and interests
• provide clarity on children's learning for all parents, enabling them to know how and why to extend this at home.