Brats Day Nursery Corby Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show positive relationships with staff and their peers. For instance, younger children comfort their peers when they become upset. Children receive praise from staff when they do this, rewarding them for showing kindness to others. Older children laugh with staff when they play throwing games. When children who speak English as an additional language arrive, they are welcomed by staff who use their home language to greet them. This contributes to children having a sense of belonging in the nursery. Older children learn how to take turns with their peers. When they want toys that others are playing with, staff ask them to wait until other children have finished playing with the toys. This encourages children to be patient.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well by staff. Other professionals are invited into the nursery to work with staff to identify how to meet children's individual needs. Additional funding that some children receive is used to provide one-to-one time with children to implement targets to help children progress in their development. Children are supported to develop a love of books to support their literacy skills. For instance, when staff read books to younger children, they ask them to lift flaps on the pages. Older children are asked to remember stories that staff read to them. Children recall parts of stories, such as how to recycle objects.

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

• Staff support children to understand how to behave positively. For example, they ask them to use their walking feet indoors, helping children to understand the behaviours staff want to see. Children listen and follow staff's instructions. For example, when older children are asked to stand in a line in preparation for lunch, staff ask them to pretend to be aeroplanes, supporting their imagination. Children hold out their arms and pretend to fly to the table at lunchtime.
• The management team and staff place a strong focus on supporting children's independence. For example, staff provide hand-over-hand support for younger children to use tongs to serve themselves food at snack time. Older children use tongs on their own and are responsible for scraping any waste food in the bin when they have finished eating and to wash their plates.
• Settling-in sessions for children when they first start attending are gradual, helping them to become familiar with staff and the nursery. Staff find out from parents about children's routines at home and implement these in the nursery. They ask parents for items of their clothing to give to their children so they can smell familiar adults when they go to sleep. This helps to promote all children's emotional well-being when they first start, including those with SEND.
• Staff work in partnership with parents to support children's eating habits.
• Parents appreciate that staff encourage their children to try a variety of meals. Staff give parents plates that children use at the nursery to encourage their children to eat at home. They share information about meals that their children are offered.
• Staff are supported with their practice and well-being. They recognise and display comments about their colleagues positive practice with children. This helps to raise their colleagues self-esteem and confidence. New staff are supported to complete formal childcare qualifications to help develop their knowledge of how to support children's care and learning.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language skills well. For example, staff hold conversations with older children to help them identify different animals and to understand the different climates animals live in. However, staff do not fully implement the management team's expectations to support younger children's communication skills during daily routines, such as when staff sit with children at snack time.
• Children are keen to join activities staff plan for them. For example, younger children develop the muscles in their hands when they use brushes in paint to make marks on paper. However, occasionally, staff do not adapt their interactions with older children during planned activities to ensure that all children taking part get the most from the learning offered. For instance, sometimes, staff do not focus on engaging quieter children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to implement the management team's expectations during daily routines to support younger children's communication skills
• support staff to adapt their interactions with older children during planned activities to ensure that all children learn the most from the experiences offered.