Banana Moon Day Nursery Harbury

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a warm, welcoming environment for children and their parents. They enable children to become confident and capable during their time at nursery. They find out key information about children when they start attending and use this to help children to settle quickly. Children demonstrate that they feel happy and secure and have close relationships with key staff. For example, they spend time playing with their key person and seek them out for reassurance when needed.

Staff encourage children to be independent. Children serve themselves during mealtimes and clear their own plates away when they have finished eating. Staff give children time to try to put on their own coats before they go outside to play. This supports children to manage everyday tasks for themselves. Staff praise children, which enhances their self-esteem. Staff promote children's positive behaviour. They support children to regulate their emotions and they use 'emotions monsters' to help them to recognise the impact of their actions on others.

Staff promote children's physical development through the activities offered indoors and outdoors. They encourage young babies to handle toys independently, while older children use scissors to cut pieces of paper along the dotted lines. Children explore play dough. They roll it into a ball, then use a rolling pin to flatten it out. Outdoors, staff set up activities that enable children to run, climb and ride on bikes. Additional funding that some children receive is spent effectively to support their individual learning needs.

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

• Leaders implement an ambitious and sequential curriculum through contexts relevant to the children. Leaders and staff reflect on the individual needs of the children to decide what is important for them to learn. This helps staff to meet each child's needs and support their progress.
• Staff know the children well. They understand the individual targets set for all children. They consider children's abilities and interests when planning and delivering the curriculum. For example, babies enjoy exploring a variety of sensory materials together and older children develop their imagination as they play in the role-play area. This supports children's enjoyment and their engagement in learning.
• Staff and leaders focus on developing children's confidence and independence. Children speak confidently, and staff encourage them to make choices about their play. Staff engage with children during play and support their learning. However, at times, staff do not manage the noise levels effectively. They do not consider how this may affect children's concentration, particularly during adult-led activities.
• Children engage well in activities planned by staff. However, when children become distracted, staff do not consistently adapt their teaching style to support them to remain focused. This means that occasionally children do not benefit fully from the learning opportunities.
• The leadership team understands the importance of professional development. The team reflects on the learning needs of the children and plans staff training around this. For example, some staff are trained to develop children's communication skills and support other staff in this area. Leaders also support staff to gain recognised early years qualifications. Staff speak positively about the support and training that they receive. This means leaders have a clear vision for moving forward and building on existing practice.
• Staff plan many opportunities for children to develop their language skills. For example, children listen to stories intently as staff bring characters to life. Staff sing songs with the children, and children sing along and dance. Staff introduce new vocabulary to children linked to the activities they plan. This successfully encourages children to recall words they already know and increase their vocabulary.
• The provider prioritises effective partnerships with parents. They regularly communicate ideas on how parents can best support children's care and learning at home. This helps to provide good continuity of care between the nursery and home. Parents report that they and their children feel supported and that they are happy with the nursery's 'family feel'.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles. Children enjoy fruit daily and wash their hands before they eat. They enjoy fresh cooked nutritious meals prepared by an on-site chef. Children have many opportunities to develop their small and large muscles, indoors and outdoors. This helps to promote their good health and well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to minimise the noise levels in the rooms to fully enable all children to hear what is being said to them and concentrate on their learning
• help staff to increase their knowledge of how to adapt their teaching skills to encourage children to remain focused on learning opportunities.