Bramley Wood Day Nursery and Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and benefit from the warm welcome they receive from staff at this nurturing and caring nursery. Babies and toddlers smile when seeing familiar staff members, who offer them cuddles and help them to separate from parents. Older children's independence skills are promoted well. For example, babies and toddlers are encouraged to use spoons when feeding themselves, while older children understand daily routines, such as removing shoes and placing them in trays on arrival. Children feel secure and demonstrate a firm sense of belonging.

The carefully sequenced curriculum helps children build on current skills and knowledge. Children make good progress. Children find the learning opportunities on offer stimulating and remain focused and engaged for prolonged periods of time. For example, children delight in building towers with foam and bricks, counting as they build, and they enjoy the messy play enormously.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. When age appropriate, daily group times involve a recap of the provider's rules. The children are clearly familiar with these and are beginning to understand their importance. Staff act as positive role models, using calm voices and lots of praise. When required, staff provide gentle reminders of their expectations, such as prompting children to say please and thank at appropriate times.

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

• Children develop secure attachments with their key person. They confidently approach staff to seek out reassurance or to invite them to engage in play. For example, children offer staff books to share or ask them to engage in role-play games. A good example of this is when a member of staff enthusiastically became the patient while children delighted in taking on the role of becoming surgeons.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on developing children's independence and creativity skills. Children freely access a wide range of resources and are encouraged to plan their own play. For example, staff provide a range of resources for creative learning, such as scissors, paper, feathers and pipe cleaners, which children can easily access, if necessary. Consequently, children are encouraged to be creative, confident and independent learners.
• Leaders use funding to deliver targeted support to children who might be at risk of falling behind. Staff work hard to identify these children and recognise individuals with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These children receive swift and appropriate support. The special education needs coordinator works closely with parents and other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, which helps children to make the best possible progress.
• Overall, leaders and staff have established a broad and ambitious curriculum. Staff demonstrate a sound understanding of children's individual learning needs and assess children's progress effectively. However, at times, staff's daily interactions with children do not offer opportunities to extend and enrich children's vocabulary. Consequently, opportunities for children's language acquisition are not consistently being maximised.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery and pre-school. They comment on the friendliness of the staff and how their children 'thrive'. Parents feel well informed and supported by staff, particularly appreciating regular and insightful parent consultations. This helps parents to further support their children's development at home.
• Staff successfully promote children's good health. They teach them the importance of a healthy diet and the need for good hygiene practices, such as washing hands before eating. Children make good use of the outdoor area to be physically active daily. Staff promote opportunities for children to develop their fine motor skills, such as by practising picking up, grasping and using tools, including small hammers and pins.
• Staff are committed to providing an inclusive environment. Staff sensitively plan for children to explore a wide range of cultural practices and celebrations throughout the year, and they challenge typical gender stereotypes when appropriate. Leaders ensure that learning about important world issues and organisations, such as Fairtrade, is also included within the curriculum.
• Leaders are dedicated to an ongoing cycle of self-evaluation and are continually looking for ways to improve. Regular observations, supervisions and appraisals largely result in the effective identification of areas to develop. Staff comment that they feel highly supported and valued and access a wide range of appropriate training. This helps staff to provide the best possible care and education for the children in their care.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen opportunities to help children learn new and ambitious vocabulary, to help them to become more confident and fluent speakers.