Blue Orkids @ Queens Park Community Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this welcoming, community-focused nursery. Staff focus on supporting children's communication and language skills successfully. Children hear staff speak clear and meaningful words to them. Staff use visual cues to support children's communication needs, so children at different levels of development learn essential skills. When children leave the table without packing away their lunch box, staff call their name, show the children their lunch box and point to their bag. This helps children to understand the next part of the routine and behave well. Swift and regular assessments help identify when staff need to target children's speech and language skills more intensely. This helps ensure that children receive intervention quickly.

Staff provide a range of experiences that children enjoy. They model how to use tools for play dough and use descriptive words to encourage children to copy. Children roll and pinch the dough with their hands and fingers to help strengthen their small finger muscles. They use brushes to paint their hands. Staff encourage children to mix the colours to find out what happens. Children explore the paint with their fingers, enjoying the feel. This helps to stimulate young children's sense of touch and help them to explore experimenting with resources in a fun way.

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

• The leadership team is dedicated to giving children the best start in life. They put children and families at the heart of everything they do. They ensure that vulnerable children are helped in a variety of ways. Leaders use funding wisely, basing it on the evidence of children's needs, for example increasing their physical skills with resources or sending home meal vouchers. They are aware of the specific needs of the community and enhance their provision to build gaps in children's experiences. They invite storytellers and musicians to the nursery so that children can enjoy a wide range of events.
• Leaders adopt a very reflective practice model and help staff to reflect on their practice. They use regular observations of staff's teaching and training and supervision meetings. Staff report that leaders support them effectively. As a result, they are motivated to work with children.
• Staff support children to settle in quickly to the nursery. They visit the children and parents at home to obtain detailed information that they use to foster children's development. When children visit the nursery, staff provide activities that children like to help them feel comfortable and become engaged in learning from the very start. Staff spend time playing and talking with them to begin to build bonds. As a result, children feel secure and confident in the nursery.
• Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff have high expectations for children to achieve the best they can from their starting points. They work with parents and other professionals, including schools, extremely closely to ensure that these children receive all the available support to develop. This means these children move on to school smoothly because services have been secured.
• Staff help ensure that children are constantly learning through play. They help children count pieces of play dough accurately. Staff join in children's role play with babies, teaching them to be gentle when cuddling the dolls. Outdoors, staff stand nearby reminding children to safely steer bikes and move about climbing frames competently. These opportunities help children to develop their interests and confidence.
• Staff have secure plans to support children's learning. All activities have been carefully provided for the children in attendance. However, at times, staff do not adapt their teaching to the children's needs. For example, staff continue to focus on the learning intention when children have moved on in their play. Occasionally, children wander from the activity, reducing their learning time.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are complimentary about the nursery staff. They receive regular communication about their child, including development checks. Parents report that their children settled in quickly and that their children are 'talking more since coming to nursery'. They value how the nursery supports them as parents, including the nursery food bank and attending meetings together.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to further develop their teaching skills to adapt their focus, according to children's needs during play.