Barwell Children's Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children love to attend this welcoming and child-centred pre-school. They arrive full of energy and enjoy sharing their news from home with the staff. Staff greet them by name and show a genuine interest in their news. Children who are more apprehensive to attend are supported well. Staff plan the environment linked to children's interests and enthusiastically tell and show children what they can play with. This helps children to leave their parents and settle in their play. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their individual needs met well, as staff take the time to get to know them and work well as a team to ensure they can access the full range of activities on offer. For example, they know some children prefer to learn outside so ensure this area is always accessible.

Overall, children behave well and show they are beginning to understand the rules for working harmoniously together. Staff provide activities to support this, such as diggers in a tuff tray to support sharing and turn taking, as well as early mark-making skills. Children learn to use sand timers to help them understand when it is their turn to play. Staff praise children when they are successful in this task, helping to boost children's self-esteem.

Children are taught good skills for developing their independence, such as 'pinch, pinch pull' when opening food items at lunchtime and how to put on their coats ready for outside play. Staff give children the opportunity to practise these skills in their own time and offer gentle and timely guidance when needed.

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

• Children develop their imagination as they play in the home corner. They sit and 'talk' on the telephone and make staff and visitors 'dinner'. They demonstrate previous learning as they remind them food is 'hot' and that adults need to blow it before eating. However, staff do not always recognise when some children struggle to ask others to join their play. Consequently, children are not consistently supported to build on their social skills or develop interactions with their peers.
• Overall, staff support children's language and communication as they talk to them as they play. They use objects of reference to help children who struggle with their speaking skills. However, there are times that staff forget to build or extend on children's speaking skills to help them use more words or build on their repertoire of words.
• Children generally behave well and demonstrate their growing ability to share and take turns. However, staff are not always consistent in their behaviour management approach, and there are times that managing some children's behaviour becomes confusing and ineffective.
• Staff ensure that children with SEND or additional needs are supported well. They support parents to seek the appropriate help from other professionals and agencies, such as speech and language and healthcare professionals.
• The manager has a clear overview of the pre-school and closely monitors the quality of education and the care that staff provide for children. She has worked with the staff to develop the pre-school since the last inspection. Regular supervision meetings ensure staff have opportunities to discuss their professional development and practice, as well as any well-being issues they may have. The manager regularly observes staff practice and offers feedback to help ensure the practice is effective and meets the needs of children. These actions have a positive effect and help to ensure that children make good progress overall.
• The parents speak highly of the staff and the quality of learning and care offered to their children. They comment that their children are 'happy' and they feel well informed about their children's progress. Staff provide feedback for parents about their child's day at the end of each session. An online application is used to record the progress each child is making, which parents can access and add their own comments regarding their child's learning at home. This helps to consolidate what children learn in the pre-school.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on children's well-being and emotional development. Staff encourage children to talk and read stories, such as 'The Colour Monster', to help them recognise their feelings and emotions. Children enjoy talking to visitors about their emotions, using the information they learn from the story to tell them how they are feeling that day.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help children to further build on their social skills and interactions with each other
• help staff to know and understand how better to support every child to develop their speaking skills, in particular, those children with speech and language delay
• help staff to support children's behaviour through fair and consistent methods.