Blakenhall Neighbourhood Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery excited and ready to learn. Staff provide a warm and nurturing approach to each child's care. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make progress from their starting points. Children settle quickly with consistent reassurance from staff to help them to feel safe and secure.

Children flourish while discovering and exploring their environments. Staff have high expectations for children. They plan precise activities that capture children's interests and motivate them in their learning. This helps to close gaps in their development. For example, children develop their awareness of mathematical concepts as they discover the different dinosaurs in the rocks in the garden. Staff encourage children to describe what they have found and compare the different dinosaurs' sizes. Staff provide children with an abundance of praise following their contributions and this builds on their confidence and self-esteem.

Staff are excellent role models for children. They promote a positive and respectful culture in the nursery. Staff encourage manners consistently and, as a result, children are polite and courteous to each other. Younger children repeat the nursery rules, for example to use 'walking feet' as they carefully and safely walk down the stairs to go out into the garden. This reminds children how to keep themselves safe.

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

• Leaders and managers support staff exceptionally well. They are passionate about providing high-quality care and education for all children and their families. The management team places a strong focus on staff's well-being and provides extensive training opportunities to support and enhance their professional development. As a result, staff say that they feel extremely well supported and enjoy working at the nursery.
• The majority of staff model high-quality teaching. However, there are times when some less confident staff do not always provide the same high quality. For example, during group activities, staff provide commentary when children discover the turtles in the water. However, they do not always extend children's knowledge beyond what they already know. This means that not all children have the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and make maximum progress in their learning.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Parents share highly positive feedback about the nursery and the staff who care for their children. Parents attend coffee mornings to build stronger relationships with the staff to support their children. Staff share children's learning and their next steps with parents frequently to enable them to support their child's learning at home.
• Across the nursery, staff provide some opportunities for children to develop their skills in preparation for the next stage in their developmental journey. For example, staff support children to wash their hands before they eat, or encourage them to wipe their noses, helping to develop self-care routines. On occasions, staff encourage children to help with mealtimes, including serving meals or handing out plates. However, this is not consistently implemented to help children to develop their independence skills even further. As a result, not all children are fully prepared for the next stage in their development.
• The nursery's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and staff support children with SEND well. They use visual aids to help children with SEND understand what is happening next in the nursery routines. For example, staff use pictures to indicate what is happening now and what to expect next to show changes in the activities. This supports children with SEND as they transition through the day's routines and meets their needs effectively.
• Children thoroughly enjoy their time out in the garden being active. They ride confidently on their bikes or play games of hide and seek with the staff and their peers. Children confidently explain to visitors the importance of eating all their food because this gives them the energy they need to play games in the garden. This helps children to understand the importance of being healthy and active.
• Children develop their understanding of other people they might meet and of being part of a community. For example, staff sit and read stories with children about people who help us, and they encourage discussions about what children want to be when they grow up, such as a police officer. This helps to develop children's emerging vocabulary and communication skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support the less confident staff with their teaching techniques to raise the quality of education to the next level.