Aughton Early Years Centre Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children thrive under the care of the highly experienced and qualified staff team at this inspiring child-centred nursery. Children and their parents receive an extremely warm welcome by leaders and staff into the nursery. Staff have very high expectations for children's behaviour. Children settle exceptionally well, and there is a highly effective key-person system, enabling children to make excellent bonds with staff. All staff ensure that the settling-in process provides reassurance and emotional security for children and their parents. For example, staff replicate children's feeding and sleeping routines from home. This ensures that children quickly feel safe and at home in the nursery. Children develop the confidence to play and explore the nursery's highly stimulating learning environment.

Staff are excellent role models for communication and language. Babies hear lots of sounds, words and early language. They thoroughly enjoy singing nursery rhymes with staff, eagerly using wooden claves to replicate the rhythm of the song. Staff extend these interests with children. They introduce and encourage children to explore a wide selection of exciting books. They use story time as an opportunity to spark children's imagination and learn new vocabulary. They use props, exaggerated voices and expressive facial expressions during 'The Gingerbread Man' story. Staff pause and wait for toddlers to fill in the gaps of the story. They use sign language consistently, and even the youngest of children begin to use this. For example, older babies make the sign for please and thank you. This helps children to build on their language skills, which they need for when they start school.

Children learn to be highly independent from an extremely early age. They learn to access their drinks cup independently and feed themselves at mealtimes. This is instilled early on and, therefore, becomes natural to children. Older babies receive support to use the low sink for handwashing. They turn on the tap themselves and wash their hands. Toddlers are encouraged to spread butter onto crackers using their knife at snack time. Children demonstrate that this is a skill already learned and practised.

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

• The senior leadership team are highly effective and they have an excellent understanding of their roles and responsibilities. There is an exceptionally effective management structure that enables the whole team to drive consistent and continual improvement. The long serving and dedicated staff team report that there is an exceptional team ethos, where they receive endless support for their development and well-being. They comment that they feel listened to and that the extremely high levels of training on offer enables them to feel completely valued.
• The senior leadership team have an exceptionally clear vision and understanding of how to plan a curriculum that is unique, innovative and inspiring for each child. For example, staff provide hands-on experiences for children in the forest school. Children problem solve and learn to manage risks. They learn how to keep themselves and their friends safe.
• Relationships are strong, and children make secure bonds. Staff have very high expectations of children and continuously promote positive attitudes, such as 'be careful, be kind' and 'be helpful'. Children show compassion towards one another and to the staff in nursery. Staff gather an extremely wide range of information from parents to enable the process of relationship building from the outset. The excellent process for settling children into the nursery and as they move throughout the age groups enables children to make exceptional bonds with staff.
• Parents are overwhelmingly complimentary about the nursery's senior leaders, childcare and office staff. They say that staff are 'wonderfully caring'. Parents report that the many methods of communication used by leaders and staff promote outstanding parent partnerships. Parents have high levels of confidence in the staff and know what their children are learning is supporting their next stage of development.
• Senior leaders and staff work collaboratively with external agencies to aid early identification and timely intervention for vulnerable children and children in need, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. All children benefit from the calming sensory room. The knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator provides staff with training and guidance. This helps them to provide children with support that is personalised to their needs.
• Children have exciting opportunities to develop and strengthen their large and small muscles. Staff encourage babies to crawl, pull themselves up, cruise and walk to explore. Staff provide hands-on experiences for children in the enabling outdoor area and forest school. Toddlers problem solve and learn to manage risks, for example walking confidently down slopes, balancing on beams and navigating the slides.
• Staff use carefully worded questions to probe children's knowledge. Children recall past experiences using family picture albums, learning journals and floor books. Staff give children time to absorb information, to think about their knowledge and to respond in their own time and words. Children enjoy a variety of visits into their local community. They visit the garden centre, local gardens and the shops. They promote road safety and staff talk about nature and the world around them.
• Senior leaders use funding very effectively to enhance the learning opportunities for all children. For example, they plan garden events with parents and promote growing and cultivating vegetables and 'wilding' projects to encourage bees and insects.