Baker Street Nursery and Preschool Yate

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are well cared for by a kind, caring and attentive staff team. Staff focus on supporting children to develop secure bonds with their key person. Children who are new to the nursery and feel unsettled are offered lots of comfort and reassurance. This helps them to begin to feel settled, safe and secure. Staff structure the curriculum to support individual children to learn through play. They make ongoing assessments and observations of children and use these well to develop children's skills.

All children are encouraged to interact positively with their peers. For example, children say please and thank you when they wish to use an item or play alongside each other. A key focus of the curriculum is to support children to understand and vocalise their needs while also supporting them to recognise and deal appropriately with their emotions. For example, staff use circle times to have discussions about thoughts and feelings. Toddlers and pre-school children listen attentively during circle time and express their feelings and wishes. They eagerly join in with actions during song time, with some children confidently using the sign language that staff use. This reinforces children's knowledge, understanding and communication skills.

Children with additional needs are supported well. Children enjoy activities such as 'bucket time', which helps them to concentrate and take part in an activity for an extended period. Children learn to share an activity with other children, and they develop social skills.

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

• The manager is proactive and committed to continually evaluate and improve practice at the nursery. Staff are well supported to access ongoing training, to support them in delivering a good standard of care and education to all children. All staff work well with the local authority adviser and external agencies to improve their knowledge and understanding.
• An effective key-person system is in place. Children have secure emotional attachments to all staff, not only their key person. Babies' individual routines are respected. They are made comfortable in a quiet, cosy sleep room. Toddlers who require a nap have a sleep mat and fresh linen. They have comforters and are soothed by staff, who keep a watchful eye while they sleep. Babies snuggle up to staff as they wake from their sleep before they are ready to resume their play.
• Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's independence from an early age. For example, older children attend to their personal needs such as toileting and handwashing by themselves. Babies who are transitioning to the toddler room sit on small chairs for meals and use two pieces of cutlery and independently use wipes for their faces. Children's growing independence contributes to them becoming ready for school.
• Children gain good physical skills. The outdoor area is spacious and provides good opportunities for children to develop climbing, balancing and jumping skills. Staff organise challenging games using balls, hoops and tunnels to develop children's coordination skills.
• Staff promote children's language development well. Staff provide a sociable environment, where children practise their conversational skills. However, occasionally, staff do not challenge children's thinking. For example, when children ask questions to solve problems, staff quickly provide the answers, instead of prompting children to think for themselves. This does not consistently challenge or promote problem-solving, to take children's learning to the highest levels.
• Staff support children's early counting skills and sensitively correct children during counting sequences. For example, children count blocks as they build outside, and they talk with staff about how many blocks they have while carefully stacking these on top of each other. However, staff do not consistently teach children about other mathematical concepts. They do not make comparisons about size as children construct towers with large bricks, building these taller than themselves, and they do not speak about shapes children are creating with chalk on the floor.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. They feel very well informed about their child's progress. Staff work well with parents to prepare children for new experiences in their life. Parents comment how the nursery is managed 'brilliantly' and how staff 'adore' the children who attend.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to broaden their teaching of mathematical concepts in order to extend children's skills further
• support staff to build on children's ability to think more deeply.