Bluebell Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the nursery. They separate easily from their parents and carers and quickly engage in the wide variety of learning opportunities on offer. Children are highly sociable and are keen to share their play with visitors. Following a recent visit to a local beauty salon, children are excited to re-enact their experiences in the role-play area. They confidently move adults through their procedures, from making appointments by phone, through to the beauty treatments and payment. They demonstrate strong early writing skills as they make marks to represent appointments and receipts on notepads. Younger children enjoy playing with cars. They interact well with their peers as they learn to cooperate and take turns.

Children behave well. Staff model how to be kind and respectful to others. When children occasionally struggle to engage in learning, staff calmly intervene to support their needs. Children are learning how to develop healthy lifestyles. They choose from a variety of fruit for snack and are pleased to be given a sticker when they have eaten it or drunk their milk. Children enjoy being outdoors. They use balance bicycles with ease and enjoy playing games with the attentive staff. They are gaining strong independence skills, as they have many opportunities to carry out tasks for themselves. This enables children to develop the skills they need for their future learning.

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

• Staff successfully sequence the curriculum throughout the nursery. They get to know each child well and successfully build on their experiences, knowledge and skills. The key-person system is strong, and staff know how to plan clear next steps in learning for each of their key children.
• Younger children immerse themselves in exploration, such as when digging in soil and playing with water. Staff support their leaning as they count and use mathematical language. Pre-school children are developing strong pencil skills. They draw pictures with intricate detail and many children can write their names and other words with ease.
• Children's communication and language development is good. This includes children who speak English as an additional language. Staff pronounce words clearly and use picture prompt cards to help children to understand. Staff celebrate children's cultures and backgrounds. For instance, parents are invited into the nursery to read stories in children's home languages. This helps children to learn about each other and respect their differences.
• Children's health and well-being is given high priority. They benefit from nutritious food cooked on the premises. Staff actively support children to develop good oral health routines. Children brush their teeth at the nursery and know what movements they need to make with their brush. These effective procedures promote children's ongoing good health and well-being.
• Parents speak positively about the nursery and staff. They feel their children have settled well and are happy and safe at the nursery. Parents are well informed about their children's development and know how to support their learning at home.
• The staff team is strong, and staff work well together to ensure that children's needs are met. The organisation of the daily routines is mostly managed efficiently. However, at times, staff do not recognise when older children need a change of activity, and transition times are not as well planned as they could be. For example, the transition time from snack back to play is too long and activities do not maintain children's interests. This results in some children being disengaged from their learning.
• The manager has rigorous recruitment procedures in place to help ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. She has systems in place to review staff's practice and to help them develop further, such as through supervision meetings. Staff speak positively about the opportunities they have for ongoing professional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when daily routines for older children need to be adapted to help children to stay engaged and motivated in their learning.