Bizz Kidz Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy, excited and ready to learn. They are familiar with the routines of the day, which helps them feel safe and comfortable. Children show high levels of independence when they put away their own belongings. They freely explore the stimulating activities, indoors and outdoors, which keep them engaged and motivated. Staff guide individual children's learning and development, particularly when meeting their next steps. For example, they repeatedly model words in context, particularly for children who have a speech delay. Staff emphasise the words 'up' and 'down' as children sit at either end of a see-saw. This helps to provide enjoyable experiences in which children make good progress.

Children play imaginatively and cooperatively in small groups. For instance, they create a play scenario together, such as a 'school' scene and allocate roles to each other. Older children show consideration when they ensure younger ones fully understand the instructions. Staff show excitement when they participate in children's play. They role play being a teacher and a class. Children are instructed to practise their writing, but they are unable to locate appropriate resources in the garden. Staff skilfully guide children to consider solutions to their problem. Children choose leaves as paper and twigs as pencils and practise making controlled marks. This shows that children's problem-solving skills are developing well.

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

• Leaders and staff plan a broad curriculum that builds on what children know and can do. They use children's interests to plan engaging activities. For instance, children are intrigued about creatures on a beach. Staff share information about individual features, such as pincers on a toy crab. Children listen carefully when they find out that crabs walk sideways. This helps children to enhance their curiosity about the natural world.
• Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They speak to children in a calm, respectful and caring manner. Children remember and follow rules, such as waiting patiently for their turn. Staff hold interesting discussions to help children recognise their emotions and consider possible ways to self-regulate. For example, children say they can help their friends to be happy by giving them a hug. This helps to create a nurturing learning environment.
• Children love to play outdoors in the fresh air. They discover a lot of fun ways to keep fit, such as running, skipping and jumping. Children learn to adopt healthy lifestyles and develop positive habits to support their future life. Staff help children grow vegetables in their garden to promote children's good food choices. Children enjoy eating nutritious and well-balanced meals daily. They confidently sample new tastes and chat happily about their favourite fruit and vegetables. Children practise good oral hygiene routines as they independently brush their teeth after lunch.
• Overall, teaching is of a good quality. Leaders provide additional training for staff to advance their knowledge and skills. They observe staff practice as they deliver the curriculum and offer some feedback, pointing out staff's strengths. However, sometimes, leaders do not monitor the teaching sharply enough. They do not always focus on ways for staff to improve their individual teaching skills and work towards achieving the highest standard of teaching. For example, in a large-group phonics session, staff's teaching did not effectively reflect the needs and abilities of younger children. This results in these children losing focus.
• Leaders and staff place a strong emphasis on promoting children's communication and language skills. They provide a language-rich environment. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who speak English is an additional language, practise their speech with confidence. Older children are competent communicators. However, staff do not identify all opportunities to incorporate mathematical language and concepts into children's play to further extend this area of their learning.
• Parents express high praise for the leaders and staff. They say they feel reassured that the staff know their children well. Parents appreciate the regular updates on their children's progress. They are grateful for the support and advice given to them to support their children's development at home. Parents of children with SEND are very complimentary about the successful joint working with themselves, staff and external professionals. They say that their children are 'happy' and 'thriving'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the arrangements to identify and address areas for improvement in staff practice
• support staff to build on children's knowledge of mathematics more widely during activities.