Bishy Barnabees Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children come into the setting happily and are greeted warmly by staff, often their key person. They separate confidently from their parents and carers and quickly become engaged in exploring the available activities for the day. Staff form close, secure relationships with the children and ensure that they know each child well. Children demonstrate that they feel emotionally safe and secure through their confidence when approaching all staff members. Children happily share their needs with staff and ask for help. Children's requests are always responded to positively, showing high levels of consideration towards the children's feelings. Children are well supported in developing positive relationships, resulting in the children demonstrating good behaviour and acting with care and kindness towards each other.

Children are provided with a wide variety of learning opportunities throughout the provision. Staff use their extensive knowledge of the children and their interests to plan engaging activities. Through staff's planning of the environment, interactions and scaffolding of learning, all children have the opportunity to achieve and progress. Children are encouraged to develop their language through songs, rhymes and sharing books. Children even mimic this by sharing books with each other, holding books appropriately and using illustrations to retell familiar stories to their friends.

Children are supported to develop their independence and decision making by being able to make choices. For example, children are not allocated pegs but are able to select their preference each day. When using equipment, children are encouraged to think about how to keep themselves and others safe. Children are questioned about the safe use and handling of scissors, offering the opportunity for children to remember and practise their prior learning.

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

• Staff work together to create a curriculum relevant to the children's unique needs. Staff carry out effective information gathering when a child joins the setting, to identify their starting points and interests. This information is used to design a curriculum that is engaging and exciting to the children, as well as promoting every child's development. Staff use observations of child engagement to regularly assess and review the environment, making necessary adjustments to ensure it is effective in supporting learning and development.
• Staff have a sound and thorough knowledge of the children's current development levels and what they need to learn next. Staff are skilful at planning activities to support the identified learning. However, the planning of the provision and resources does not always create a learning environment that offers children more opportunities for ambitious challenge, particularly during child-led activities.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parental input is welcomed and used to inform planning within the setting, ensuring parents feel valued and involved in their child's learning. Staff use ideas and strategies from parents to support children's developmental milestones, such as toilet training, ensuring that children receive consistent support, both at home and the setting. Parents feel supported with their children's needs, including their emotional well-being.
• There are strong transition processes in place, including moving between rooms within the setting. Parents are offered transition meetings to discuss any concerns or specific needs and encouraged to visit the new class with their child, ensuring smooth transitions for children. Parents receive daily updates when their children attend, including learning and care routines. Transitions to other settings or school are adapted to meet the individual needs of the child. This allows additional time for transition for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), ensuring that transition is smooth and supported.
• Staff offer children frequent opportunities to develop communication and language skills by being immersed in a language-rich environment. Children are engaged in spontaneous songs, rhymes and story reading sessions. Staff narrate activities, repeat back difficult words to children and add in new language, as appropriate, to support vocabulary development.
• Staff's professional development is supported well by leadership and management. Staff training needs are identified using a variety of methods, including supervisions, observations of practice, staff requests or by considering the individual needs of the children. Staff are proactive in acquiring new skills to meet the needs of the children, particularly those with SEND. The setting works effectively with other professionals to ensure that all children have access to learning and make good progress.
• Staff are responsive to children's needs and requests. Children are confident in asking for help. One child responds to support from a staff member by saying, 'you are so kind'. Staff are highly respectful of the children and their preferences.
• Staff model good behaviour, and this is reflected in the behaviour of the children. Children are able to share resources, accept delays and show concern for each other.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the planning of the provision and resources to offer children more opportunities for ambitious challenge, to create a learning environment that offers extension to planned activities.