Bambino's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff focus strongly on developing children's personal, social and emotional skills within the curriculum. For instance, young children learn to recognise themselves by looking at photos during group activities and labels on their pegs. As children get older, they learn to recognise their written name, promoting their school readiness. Staff provide children with lots of time, praise and encouragement to ensure that they succeed in their learning. For instance, they talk to children at a steady pace and give them appropriate challenges to ensure that they can easily join in. This positively boosts children's self-esteem and enthusiasm to learn. For example, older children eagerly put up their hand, showing excitement for their turn.

Staff create a safe environment where all children flourish in their physical skills. For instance, toddlers happily engage in music and movement sessions where they practise moving in a variety of ways. Outdoors, children show confidence and control as they navigate the large play equipment. Staff support them to take appropriate risks and encourage them to have a go at trying things for themselves, promoting their independence. Children thrive in well-established routines. They know to look for their own place mat at lunchtime to help them to identify where they need to sit. Toddlers, prior to going to sleep, take off their shoes and try hard to put them away into their individual bags.

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

• Staff provide children with expert support to promote their speech and language development. For instance, they teach children how to identify and pronounce the sounds that letters make. They repeat phrases back to them, use sign language and ask open-ended questions to ensure that children have an opportunity to practise their communication skills. As a result, children talk with confidence and fluency.
• Staff visit a variety of places in the community to promote children's cultural capital, including trips to the local bakery where children learn to buy their own snacks. Parents and carers comment on the superb experiences their children receive and how these have personally motivated them to take their children further afield.
• The manager is highly experienced and committed to the children in her care. She continuously evaluates policies and procedures, taking on board any feedback from staff, parents and external professionals to enhance the setting. She goes out of her way to support staff, recognising that at times they may need extra support. She ensures that they receive this.
• Staff positively discuss plans for their ongoing professional development. They identify how well they work together as a team 'bouncing ideas off one another'.
• For instance, room leaders support staff through peer observations, which feed into supervision to plan for further training. This fosters a culture of teamwork and mutual support.
• Partnerships with parents are excellent. Parents know exactly what their children are learning, how staff teach and what their role is in supporting their children at home. They attend stay-and-play sessions, receive termly reports and attend designated evenings organised by staff to discuss children's progress.
• The special educational needs coordinator has undertaken relevant training to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She works closely with staff to spot the signs that may indicate a child is falling behind in their learning. For instance, staff use communication screening to assess any delays in children's speech. This means children quickly receive targeted support and staff signpost families to further agencies if needed.
• Children benefit from focused group activities where staff teach them what they need to know to be ready for the next stage in their learning. Staff invite younger children to visit the next room during key times of the day, helping to prepare them for the eventual move. Children transition to the next room when they are developmentally ready. This supports their emotional security.
• Staff provide children with accessible and well-stocked book areas in all rooms, and there is a lending library for children to take books home. Additional funding is used to buy books for disadvantaged children. However, children have less opportunity to explore non-fiction, cultural and dual-language books than fictional stories. This reduces their opportunities to learn about the world, real places and people.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with daily opportunities to access a broad range of stories, books and literature, taking into consideration children's backgrounds, cultures and languages to further create a positive sense of belonging.