Bambinos Boutique Daycare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children at the door and children leave their parents with ease. Children arrive happy, confident and ready to learn. They run into the nursery and go straight to the activities they wish to take part in. This is due to the effective support provided by staff. Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They skilfully give them time to explore the environment and activities at their own pace. Children freely access the inviting environment and the resources they require. This promotes their self-resilience and ability to make their own choices.

Staff organise the day to allow lots of opportunities for children to practise taking turns and sharing. This teaches children to respect each other's needs. For example, children wait patiently for others who may need more time to wash their hands, serve their own food or to go outside. They do not rush each other and they help those that need it. Children hold the door open for others when going outside. As a result of this support from staff, children of all ages behave well and play harmoniously together. Staff closely supervise but do not interrupt, as the children explore their own ideas. Children relish the opportunities to build their physical strength and develop their coordination when they play outdoors. They skilfully manoeuvre on balance bikes. Children persevere and succeed in their quest to follow the path around the garden on the bikes with the support of staff.

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

• Managers give staff regular supervision meetings and the opportunity to discuss any concerns they have. Staff comment that they feel well supported. However, they are not always clear about their areas of weakness and how to improve their practice. As a result, staff do not widen their practice and do not always identify ways to extend children's learning further. They are not always meeting children's learning needs as best as they could.
• Overall, staff assess and monitor children's learning and track their progress well. However, some children's next steps in learning are not as sharply focused as they could be to accelerate their learning to an even higher level.
• The manager has clear curriculum aims and knows what she would like children to learn to make progress. For example, the current focus for babies is to develop their communication and language skills. Staff who work with babies do this well. Babies thoroughly enjoy joining in and become familiar with songs and rhymes.
• During activities, staff get down to the children's level and actively engage with them. For example, staff encourage children to mix numbers in water to make 'number soup'. They support children to recognise numbers. Staff make the best use of spontaneous opportunities. For example, they explain how a 6 can be a 9 if you turn it upside down. This helps to promote children's learning and challenge misconceptions.
• Staff understand the importance of children developing good communication and language skills. They make use of opportunities to join in with children's play and conversations. Staff use these times to ask questions and talk about what they are doing. For example, staff and children play together. Children chop up cucumbers and tell staff they are making 'cucumber pie'. Children are confident talkers; they chat away to each other and staff.
• Children enjoy digging in mud outside and show excitement as they explore this with their friends. Children encourage others to join in their play. For example, children challenge each other to see how many brussels sprouts they can fit in a wellington boot. This demonstrates that children have a positive attitude towards learning.
• Staff provide an inclusive environment for all children and value every child's uniqueness. They work in partnership with external agencies to make sure all children are well supported. Adaptations are made to benefit children with SEND. As a result, children are making good progress to move on to the next stage in their learning.
• Staff offer children opportunities that help them to learn about other people and families in their community. Children visit the local nursing home, and meet the elderly residents to share stories and sing together. This contributes to broadening children's horizons.
• Parents are kept informed about what their children are learning and the progress they are making. They are aware of any areas of their children's development where they may need more support. As a result, parents comment positively about the nursery and have strong relationships with their child's key person. They respect and value the high level of help and support given to them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance monitoring of staff practice to ensure that teaching is having the best positive impact on children's development
• place an even sharper focus on children's next steps in learning to help them make even better progress.