Asmall Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this stimulating, child-orientated nursery. The nurturing provision enables children to feel safe and secure. As a result, children are confident, resilient and settle quickly into the nursery. Children's behaviour is exemplary. The managers and staff are superb role models for children. Staff acknowledge parents' anxiety at leaving their children for the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They provide parents with multiple forms of communications and photos to help them to feel at ease as their child settles into the nursery. Staff provide emotional support to the whole family exceptionally well. Parents are delighted at the high levels of progress their child has made since starting at the nursery and comment on the really secure bonds they have with staff.

Children thoroughly appreciate playing together and are active, busy learners. They relish the freedom they have to explore the outdoor environment. Staff support children to become exceptionally independent. They challenge children and encourage them to do as much as they can for themselves. Children are extremely resilient to setbacks, as staff help them to notice what did not work and think of ways to resolve it. For instance, when children decide to put the pretend fire out, they discuss together what they need, who will hold the hosepipe and who will direct the nozzle. Their faces show deep concentration as they work together to achieve their goal.

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

• Leadership and management are extremely strong. Staff consistently report high levels of support for their well-being through team meetings, training days, supervision meetings, and focused actions for professional development. Strong shared values between leaders and staff mean that children receive the highest quality of education. Children move on to the host school seamlessly. They focus on forming early friendships. Staff team up with teachers from school to engage children in games with the older school children. This supports children's continuity of learning and emotional well-being.
• Staff encourage children to develop excellent resilience. For instance, they provide children with a teapot and challenge them to fill it with water. When the pressure 'erupts' the water, staff encourage all children to work together to solve the problem. Children squeal with delight as they use a variety of containers and funnels to experiment catching the spraying water. They relish running 'under' the water as it sprays.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive excellent support. They are extremely well included, feel safe, and make significant progress in their learning and development. For example, staff skilfully engage children in activities that build on their interests and follow their individual learning styles. Staff work with a range of professionals to offer targeted support to children. They also extend these experiences to children in receipt of additional funding. All children get the support they need to achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Staff place an extremely sharp emphasis on supporting children's communication and language skills. Children become very competent communicators and develop excellent language skills. They talk excitedly about using the firefighter's hose to squirt water. Staff model and extend children's language effectively, providing a commentary for children's play. They introduce new words to extend vocabulary, for example by discussing the water coming out of the 'spout'. As a result, when a real fire engine visits, all children are mesmerised by the sirens, safety clothes and gigantic hoses.
• Children thrive in the stimulating outdoor environment that supports all areas of learning. They develop strength and coordination as they climb the wall, pedal on trikes and balance on beams. They regularly explore resources that strengthen their core muscles and muscles in their fingers in preparation for early writing. Staff embed mathematics into all activities. Younger children develop their imagination as they bake cakes in the mud kitchen. They count scoops of mud accurately to five and discuss what the lettuce will taste like mixed in.
• Staff introduce resources and activities that support children to explore and value their individual differences, home lives and experiences. Staff encourage children to find out about the diversity of the wider world and support a strong connection to the community in which they live. For example, children benefit from weekly swimming lessons, listening walks in the park and Spanish lessons. This helps children to develop an excellent understanding of people, communities and the wider world.