Banana Moon Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and eager to start the day. Staff are caring, nurturing and respond well to children's needs. They tailor settling-in sessions to suit individual children. This helps children to get the right level of emotional support as they start nursery. Leaders provide an inclusive environment that values children's uniqueness. For example, staff sing songs with children in their home languages. They provide familiar items for children in the role-play areas, such as head scarves. This helps children to feel included.

Staff seek children's opinions. For instance, older children have recently decided on new resources and equipment for their outdoor area. They enjoy playing outside. Staff supervise children as they play on scooters, bicycles and a low-level slide. Children concentrate as they practise new skills, such as using scissors. They seek further challenge as they ask staff to draw wavy lines for them to cut. Children persevere and are delighted with their achievements.

Staff provide a curriculum that is varied and challenging. For instance, older children help to care for the apple trees that they have planted in the garden. They inspect the soil and discuss with their friends if they need watering. Children take ownership and show a good understanding of how things grow. Staff put in place interventions to help children who need additional support. For instance, following the advice from outside professionals, staff use picture cards to help some children to communicate their needs and make choices. This helps all children to make good progress.

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

• Leaders have clear oversight of the nursery and understand their roles and responsibilities. They work alongside staff and ensure that they monitor ratios, accidents and that the nursery is safe and well maintained. Leaders share policies with staff so that they understand their roles. Staff say that they love working at the nursery and feel well supported by leaders.
• Staff access training, such as safeguarding, first aid and food hygiene. This has a positive impact on their knowledge. Leaders provide staff with supervision sessions and give feedback on their interactions with children. However, they do not focus professional development opportunities on extending staff's knowledge of how to support children's learning even further.
• Staff share and gather information about children's care, learning and development with parents. They send parents photos of their children and information about care routines during the day. Parents are well informed about specific strategies staff are using to support children within the nursery. This partnership working helps to ensure consistency between nursery and home, and helps to prepare children for their next stage in learning.
• Staff support children's communication and language development in a range of ways. Babies enjoy songs with interactive elements, such as choosing an animal toy from a basket. They recognise parts of the song and copy actions and words. Staff engage children in conversations as they take part in care routines, such as changing nappies and at mealtimes. This helps children to develop and extend their language skills.
• Staff working with older children provide many opportunities for them to develop their hand and finger muscles. For example, children manipulate play dough to music. They enjoy making creations using a range of small and natural objects. Children request to write on cards for their parents. Staff describe and model how to form letters, and children enjoy having a go. This helps to promote children's early literacy skills.
• Catering staff prepare nutritious meals and snacks for children and mealtimes are a sociable occasion. Staff manage children's dietary needs and allergies well. They use colour-coded plates and complete cross-checks with catering staff before meals are served. This helps to keep children safe.
• Older children enjoy being independent. They put on their own coats, pour water to drink and help themselves to tissues to wipe their noses. Staff act as positive role models. They also ensure that they engage in handwashing routines and show children that they are drinking water to keep hydrated. This helps children to learn healthy habits and contributes to their good health.
• Overall, children behave well. They help to tidy up when they hear the 'tidy-up song' and follow routines, such as walking safely on the stairs. However, when older children do occasionally struggle to manage their behaviour, such as taking toys or throwing objects, staff do not consistently explain to children why the behaviour is not acceptable. This does not help children to learn about rules and boundaries or how their behaviour impacts on others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus professional development on enhancing staff's knowledge of how to support children's learning even further
• support staff to use consistent approaches when managing children's behaviour, to help children to realise the impact their behaviour has on others and understand what is expected of them.