Blossom Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children look forward to attending this safe and loving nursery. Leaders and staff plan and provide a range of enriching experiences that extend children's knowledge and understanding of the world. For example, they arrange visits to places such as a tropical animal attraction, the beach and farms. This supports children to find out more about the natural world. Leaders arrange for visits from professionals such as doctors and dentists. This helps children to find out more about people who help them. Staff support children to learn more about their faith. They promote the celebration of religious festivals. Staff speak to children in their home languages, alongside English, and find out keywords that are important to them. This supports children to develop their sense of self.

Staff offer children lots of praise. Children are delighted when they receive a sticker for joining in and trying their best. Even the youngest children in the nursery quickly learn what is expected of them. For example, staff explain to children how to walk sensibly from one area of the nursery to another. They encourage children to help tidy away toys at tidy-up time. Consequently, children's behaviour across the nursery is good.

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

• Staff are enthusiastic and communicate well with children. This ensures that children develop a love of learning and are keen to join in with a range of activities. For example, children learn to recognise numbers as they play an educational game on the computer screen during circle time. Staff check children's understanding. They sensitively support children if they make a mistake. This helps children to grow in confidence when they are learning new skills.
• Children who have attended the nursery for a long time are happy and settled. That said, on the day of the inspection, several new children were attending for settling-in sessions at the same time. Staff work hard to comfort new children. They offer cuddles to help them feel reassured. However, this leaves them little time to provide consistently high levels of support for all children's learning. Furthermore, noise levels in the nursery, such as the doorbell or announcements on the speaker, do not fully support children to feel settled. However, leaders are aware of this and are continuing to review the arrangements for settling in new children.
• Leaders ensure that all staff receive the right training and resources to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, leaders access specialised resources and guides from the local authority. This helps staff to support children with their speech and language development.
• Parents and carers report that their children look forward to attending the nursery. They say that their children make good progress. The nursery uses an app to share information with parents about their children's learning and development. The app also informs parents of who their child's key person is. However, some parents are still unsure of who the key person is for their child. This does not fully promote the regular two-way flow of information between parents and key persons.
• Staff talk to children about what happens inside their body when they eat food. Children enjoy daily physical activity in the nursery's all-weather outdoor play space. They enjoy the daily routine of brushing their teeth after lunch. This helps them to learn about staying healthy and form good self-care habits as they grow. However, staff do not consistently communicate these messages with parents. Sometimes, children bring unhealthy or inappropriate food items in their lunch boxes. For example, items from home, such as grapes, are not always cut before children eat them. However, staff take action to ensure the safety of food items when this is brought to their attention.
• The passionate and dedicated leaders regularly observe staff's practice. Staff take part in supervision sessions with leaders. They report high levels of well-being. Staff attend regular training to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. Leaders seek external support and guidance from local authority advisers. They continually review the learning environment. This ensures that children continue to receive positive interactions and learning experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review settling-in routines for new children, taking into account staffing arrangements and background noise, to provide consistently high levels of support for all children
• enhance partnerships with parents to ensure that all parents know who their child's key person is and improve the two-way flow of information regarding children's learning and development
• strengthen communication with parents to ensure that appropriate items are provided in children's lunch boxes from home.