Bilingual Day Nursery Ashby

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Older children smile as they receive praise from staff when discussing the days of the week. Babies laugh and giggle as they play peekaboo with staff. Children settle quickly for registration and are eager to learn. They behave well and demonstrate good listening skills. Children enjoy books and point at the pictures as they tell their friends what is happening in the story.

Children choose which piece of fruit they would like to eat at snack time from the selection on offer. Children enjoy imaginative play as they pretend to cook lunch for their friends and staff in the role play area.

Children explore the outdoor area and learn how to keep themselves safe in the garden. They follow rules such as staying behind the fence and not touching the water, as they take turns to feed the fish in the nursery pond. Children collect rainwater from the water butt to feed the plants and help them to grow. They enjoy the feeling of the rain on their bodies as they spin, dance and sing outside. Young children know what number comes next when they are counting to three. Children learn Spanish during their time at nursery and young children are able to say numbers in both Spanish and English.

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

• Staff support children to develop key skills ready for their next stage in learning. For example, children are able to identify their name and hold a pencil correctly. They help children learn to write their name to develop their early literacy and writing skills. Staff introduce mathematical concepts such as time, shape and number throughout the nursery day. For example, staff count the number logs on the fence and ask children what number comes next. The nursery works closely with the local schools and shares information about the children who are due to progress to school.
• Parents talk very highly about the nursery and the staff. They comment on the support they receive to help with their children's additional needs. Staff share ideas of how parents can help children to learn at home. They encourage parents to speak slowly and clearly and to explain everyday events to children in order to support language development. Staff keep parents informed about their children's progress through an online learning journal.
• Children show a great level of respect towards one another and the staff. They use their manners, such as saying 'please' and 'thank you', and wait their turn. However, on occasion, staff struggle to help children to understand and manage their own feelings and behaviours.
• Staff plan and implement a well-designed curriculum. They observe, monitor and assess children's development. Staff plan activities using children's interests to help them to build on what they already know. For example, staff freeze pretend dinosaurs in water. Children use toothbrushes and paintbrushes to scrape the ice and eventually reveal the dinosaur.
• Staff plan opportunities for children to develop their physical skills, in particular when they are outside. Children practise their balancing skills on the tyre walkway and wooden beams. They learn how to climb on the wooden pallets and jump from the tree stumps.
• Managers have improved their supervision processes. They hold regular meetings with staff to discuss areas of strength and areas for improvement. However, managers do not always identify weakness in staff practice. Therefore, staff do not have an accurate picture of where they need to improve and what they need to work towards next.
• Staff help children to learn about the positive impact of caring for the environment around them and reusing materials to prevent waste. For example, children learn how to make compost from plants and vegetables. They use this to feed the soil and plants in the nursery garden, to help them grow.
• Staff talk to children about food and the need to be healthy. Staff provide opportunities for children to grow their own food in the garden so that they gain an understanding of where food comes. Staff encourage children to wash their hands as they come inside from the garden and before meals. Staff encourage and support toddlers to take their t-shirt and trousers off when getting changed.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on the support given to staff so they can help children to understand and manage their own behaviour
• make sure that the manager has the skills to identify where staff practice is weak.