Bear Necessities Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy and excited to see the staff and their friends. They quickly find the activity they want to join. Children enjoy exploring in the sand. They dig with different tools to find hidden stars. Children have strong bonds with the staff. They go to them when they are unsettled. Staff give children reassuring cuddles. This supports children's emotional well-being and shows they feel safe with the staff.

Children are making good progress across the seven areas of learning and development. This is due to staff having high expectations for all children. Children are highly engaged in activities that have been well planned to meet their interests. They show good levels of participation and attention during their play. Children experiment in the water tray as they fill and empty different size containers. Staff mirror children's play and praise their efforts. This helps promote children's self-esteem. Children behave well. They listen attentively to staff and follow instruction well. Children learn to share and take turns with some gentle encouragement from staff.

Parents currently drop off and collect their children from the friendly staff at the nursery door. This is a measure that was put into place in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic to help keep children safe and promote their good health. Parents are soon to be invited back into the nursery.

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

• Staff plan meaningful opportunities for children, that build on their prior learning. These challenge children and encourage them to think for themselves. Children enjoy listening to 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. They re-enact the story using carefully selected resources from the nurturing staff. Children experiment with combining water and milk into oats. They explore the different textures and use words, such as 'lumpy' and 'smooth' to describe the mixture.
• Staff make good use of songs to introduce children to new words. Generally, staff engage in good quality interactions with children. However, occasionally, some staff do not model the correct pronunciation of words to children. Therefore, staff do not always support children's growing vocabulary consistently to the highest level.
• Children learn different ways to keep themselves healthy. They have plenty of time every day to play outside in the fresh air and get lots of exercise. Children enjoy nutritious home-cooked meals. They learn how to keep their teeth healthy through regular brushing. Children visit the local community. They enjoy going on walks to explore and learn about the environment and nature.
• Children happily move between the different areas, choosing what they want to play with and transporting objects freely. However, generally children do not tidy up after themselves. Therefore, the rooms can become untidy. Staff will then tidy up for the children. Consequently, children do not always learn how to take responsibility and ownership for their nursery environment and resources.
• Children understand what makes them unique. They also learn about differences between themselves and others. Children are kind and considerate to their friends. They learn about other cultures and ways of life. This helps children understand the diverse world around them.
• Leaders support staff well. Staff attend courses that improve the quality of their practice. For example, staff recently attended a 'brilliant babies' course. In response, staff have introduced more calm spaces for babies to explore. As a result, even the youngest of children show good levels of focus in their learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in their development. The nursery special educational needs coordinator (SENDCo) effectively supports staff. The SENDCo puts in place tailored plans. These enable staff to meet the individual needs of all children. For example, staff make good use of sensory resources to support children and help them understand there is going to be a change in routine.
• Parents speak highly of the staff. They feel that their children make good progress in their development as a result of attending nursery. Parents comment on how they were supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. They explain how staff contacted them regularly to check in on their children and guide them on how they could support their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance children's growing vocabulary further by supporting staff to model the correct pronunciation of words at all times
• support children to learn the importance of taking responsibility and ownership of the nursery environment and resources.