Baby Bede Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive confidently and are ready to learn. Older children take off their coats, hang them up on their peg and find their names or photocard to self-register. All children access environments that are planned effectively and promote their learning through play. At an early stage, babies and toddlers explore with intrigue. They are inspired by items that stimulate their senses and are provided in response to things that specifically interest them. Older children demonstrate their excitement. Their faces beam and they clap in anticipation of activities and experiences they enjoy. Children are developing a love of learning here at the setting.

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are relaxed at nursery and are supported to behave well. This is because staff make good use of interventions that respond to individual children's needs as well as helping all children understand what adults expect. For example, children quickly learn when it is time to stop playing and tidy up. Children build close bonds with the nurturing staff who know them very well. These trusting relationships help all children to feel safe and fully engage in what the nursery has to offer. Parents say that their children's faces 'light up' when they arrive at nursery and that staff look after children 'like they are their own'. Staff are conscientious and want the best for all the children. The curriculum helps children to learn well across most areas of learning. Their social skills and aspects of their communication and language are a particular strength. Children move to primary school ready for the next stage of their learning.

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

• Leaders have taken prompt and effective action to improve. They have reviewed the provision for children with SEND and those who find it difficult to cope with the full complement of nursery activities. Staff are beginning to make good use of smaller nurture groups to provide some children with the specific support they need. It is too soon for leaders to have evaluated the impact of this new provision on children's well-being and progress. However, early indications are suggesting that the children are engaging better and there are fewer disruptions to learning.
• The way that leaders and staff work in partnership with parents and other professionals is a particular strength. They are making very good use of feedback from the re-established parent forum to help drive improvement. Additionally, they make excellent use of the expertise of the host school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), the speech and language therapist and local health professional. Together, they plan the best ways to meet children's needs, both in nursery and in readiness for their transition to school.
• Staff work closely with parents right from the start to assess and plan how to meet children's individual needs. This works particularly well for children who have significant health or medical needs. Leaders use what parents know to establish specific care plans, training for staff and detailed risk assessments. This means children's health and well-being are prioritised and supports parents to develop very high levels of trust.
• Staff are skilled at recognising what children know and can do, when they are learning well and when they need extra support. In partnership with parents, staff consider children's 'stars and wishes', what they have achieved and what they need to learn and do next. This continual assessment and planning together helps children to move forward with their learning and development.
• Leaders have provided an interesting curriculum. They have thought carefully about what they want children to learn. Staff make good use of 'transition ladders', to help build children's knowledge in a logical order as they progress through the nursery. For example, babies are provided with equipment that helps them learn how to climb steps in readiness for their move to the first-floor toddler room. By the time they are in the pre-school room, children climb and balance with skill. They create challenges using the outside equipment.
• While many aspects of physical development, including children's large and small movements, are promoted very well, mealtimes are sometimes busy and rushed. Staff do not make sure all children wash their hands before eating or use plates for fruit snacks. This means that staff do not consistently help children to develop the healthy attitudes to eating and hygiene necessary for healthy living.
• Staff make good use of campaigns, such as 'ditch the dummy', to support children's speaking and oral development. They value children's home languages, which supports their listening and understanding. Effective use of small-group activities also helps to encourage children's thinking and speaking. Babies confidently join in with the repeated words and actions to familiar songs and eagerly wind the bobbin up. By the time they leave the nursery, children communicate confidently.
• Leaders plan a curriculum that provides children with opportunities to experience new things and to develop skills that they need to succeed in life. For example, staff take children on trips to the allotment and to the local theatre to help broaden their understanding of the world. Staff make effective use of visitors to the setting to be the 'mystery reader', to help provoke children's interest in stories.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor the effectiveness of strategies to support children with SEND, ensuring that any alternative provision continues to support children to make the progress they are capable of
• enhance the ways children are helped to learn about healthy living, including healthy attitudes to mealtimes and eating and practising good hygiene.