Blue Orkids @ Wootton Community Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children on arrival at the nursery, which helps children to feel reassured and safe. Children quickly become engaged in their chosen activity, make friends with their peers and show a positive attitude to their learning. For example, older children pretend to be dentists and patients, confidently talking about their roles and the importance of cleaning their teeth. Staff support children to manage their feelings and emotions.

Staff are responsive to the children's care needs and join in their play. They encourage babies to develop their hand-eye coordination skills as they spoon coloured oats into containers. They skilfully introduce new words, such as 'scoop, pour' and 'sprinkle'. Staff support younger children to make dough. They learn to count scoops of flour and how to pour water from a jug before kneading the mixture together. Older children confidently use tools to roll out dough and scissors to cut herbs to decorate their pretend dough pizzas. They describe their culinary creations and discussions with staff leads to the children demonstrating their knowledge of what are healthy and unhealthy food options. Staff develop children's understanding of numbers. Older children find the corresponding number of pretend fish in the water. They know how many fish they have if they add one more.

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

• The proactive management team has worked hard to develop the nursery. They continually reflect and evaluate, looking at ways to enhance the nursery environment and opportunities for children. This includes seeking the views of staff and parents. They have recently redesigned the layout of the rooms and made additional room available for younger children to develop their play and ideas. Furthermore, management recognises the importance of ongoing training to ensure staff continue to build their knowledge and skills.
• The management and staff team structure and sequence the curriculum to cover all areas of a child's development. They know the children well and ensure daily routines reflect their needs. Staff complete ongoing observations of the children to monitor their progress and well-being. This assists staff to understand each child's personality, interests, and learning needs. Overall, staff offer a variety of learning experiences that support children's development across different areas. However, during certain activities, both planned and free play, they do not always adjust their interactions effectively to maximise children's learning outcomes.
• The management team and staff have high ambitions for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They understand the importance of early intervention. Staff involve parents in discussions and decision-making about their child, initiating referral procedures if required. Additionally, management and staff support families to access available funding. They use their knowledge of the children and their families to determine how to best use the funding. For example, funding has been used to purchase sensory resources and to enable specialist speech and language and physical activities.
• Management and staff welcome parents into the nursery. Helpful information and advice are displayed in the welcoming entrance area. Parents are invited to stay-and-play sessions, graduation ceremonies and Mother's Day celebrations. Staff implement effective settling-in sessions, ensuring a smooth transition for children. Parents are kept well informed about their child's day through daily conversations and receive updates on their child's progress via an app.
• The nursery chef provides healthy, freshly cooked meals and snacks. Children learn good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating. They are encouraged from a young age to feed themselves with cutlery, helping to develop their independence. Clear procedures are in place to ensure children's dietary requirements and preferences are met.
• Babies and younger children are constantly spoken to and introduced to rhymes and songs, particularly enjoying those with actions, such as 'The wheels on the bus'. Older children successfully use language to talk about what they are doing and recall past events. They thoroughly enjoy sharing story and non-fiction books about animals with staff. This leads to children recalling their visits to the zoo and talking about their pets.
• Children are provided with opportunities to increase their knowledge and sense of the world around them. For example, staff take children to a local shop to buy cooking ingredients. Additionally, children have opportunities to choose books from the visiting library bus and enjoy visiting a local wooded area, where they explore their surroundings.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff skills to adapt their interactions to fully support children's learning, during children's free play and some planned activities.