Bramble Infant School and Nursery (Early Years Childcare)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Babies and toddlers develop strong, trusting bonds with key staff, to help them feel happy, safe and secure. Opportunities for children to play alongside and with their friends, help them to build early relationships with their peers. For instance, as toddlers play outside, they take turns on the slide and wait patiently for their friends to have their turn. Children behave well and are polite, kind and courteous. They listen to staff and follow some age-appropriate instructions. For instance, toddlers help to tidy away toys in readiness for snack time.

Staff provide a curriculum that supports children to make good progress in their learning and development. Children are excited to learn and take part in a wide range of activities that ignite their curiosity and exploration. For instance, staff provide feathers, pine cones and coloured paper as toddlers explore textures, colours and weight. Children develop good physical skills as staff recognise the importance this has for their ongoing development. Babies benefit from 'tummy time' to help develop their core strength as they develop their sitting, crawling and early walking skills. Toddlers use tools, such as tweezers, to help build their small-muscle skills. They practise fastening zips, as they confidently master these new skills. Younger children's communication and language development is good. Toddlers learn and use the new words they hear and are able to concentrate well in activities that interest them.

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

• The senior leadership team manage the setting well. Their shared vision for children's early education, enables them to work closely together to give children a good start to their early education. The manager has good oversight of areas for development in the nursery. She carries out regular peer observations. This supports staff in their professional development. Staff state that they feel thoroughly supported, love working at the setting and find their jobs rewarding.
• All children have opportunities to develop their independence. Staff recognise and value toddlers' eagerness to do some things for themselves. For instance, as they get ready for snack time, children learn how to wash and dry their hands and where to put wet paper towels, as staff take the time to embed these new skills. Babies learn how to use spoons to feed themselves. They successfully guide these into their mouths, developing their good hand-to-eye coordination skills. Staff praise children as they attempt and persevere at these tasks, to successfully help them master these new skills.
• Staff get to know the children's individual personalities, likes and dislikes well. The key-person system helps staff to support children's personal, social and emotional development from the outset. Staff are kind and caring in their interactions with children. In turn, children learn how to be kind and polite and to share toys and resources, as they play with their friends. Children behave well. They develop the social skills that prepare them for their next stage in learning.
• Teaching is good. Staff use their regular observations and assessments of children's learning to check and monitor their progress. They use this information to plan and provide a challenging curriculum to consistently support all children's development. The manager recognises that refining some staff's knowledge of what they want children to learn next is yet to be embedded fully, to help all children make the best possible progress. At times, some activities are planned to build on children's interests, but are not consistently tailored to what children need to learn next.
• Parents and carers speak very positively about the nursery. They say that staff are nurturing, warm and supportive and their children are excited to come to the nursery. Staff use their good relationships with parents to share children's daily activities, their progress and care routines. However, staff are yet to extend these partnerships to gain a full range of information about children's individual needs, when they first start and on an ongoing basis, to help staff consistently support their learning.
• Children's communication and language development is good. Staff provide a wealth of opportunities for children to hear and practise using new language. For instance, staff use opportunities to repeat back new sounds and single words that babies say, as they play together. Toddlers learn about the word 'bumpy' as staff sound out the word clearly and explain the meaning, as children explore the textures of pine cones.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance methods for gathering a full range of information about children's individual needs, when they first start and on an ongoing basis, to help staff consistently support their learning
• help staff to further their understanding of the curriculum, to help them sharply focus on the identified learning intentions for each child.