Bright Beginnings

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and thoroughly enjoy spending time at this warm and well-organised nursery. Staff offer a nurturing and stimulating learning environment. Children's smiles show that they feel happy and safe. The nursery benefits from a consistent staff team, who have worked together over many years. Staff form close relationships with children, and their interactions are extremely positive. They genuinely care about the children in their care. Staff take the time to get to know each child and their families well.

Children leave their parents and carers confidently at the door. They settle quickly at their chosen activities. Staff plan these based on children's likes and interests. For example, babies enjoy exploring dough. Staff help them to develop their small physical movements and encourage them to try things for themselves. Children use different objects to roll, poke and squeeze the dough. Older children have a keen interest in tadpoles. They use binoculars and magnifying glasses to examine the tadpoles and enjoy drawing what they can see. Staff take advantage of this to further extend children's knowledge about the life cycle of a frog.

All staff are attentive and are good role models. They have high expectations. Children understand these expectations and demonstrate excellent manners and behaviour. All children make progress from their starting points in development.

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

• Staff support children's communication and language development well. They use resources, such as 'babble bags', enthusiastically and encourage children to interact with the props. For instance, staff encourage children to identify farm animals and the sounds they make. This supports children's growing speech and vocabulary.
• Staff promote children's literacy well throughout the nursery. They have created story sacks, which contain puppets and props, that excite children. Children take story sacks home to share with their parents. This helps to enhance children's love of reading.
• Staff plan activities and experiences that are based on what children are interested in. However, there are times when staff do not fully understand the intent for planned activities. This means that children's learning is sometimes more incidental than purposeful.
• The nursery cook provides children with freshly cooked and nutritious meals and snacks. Staff model good handwashing procedures, and children enjoy singing the specially composed songs, knowing that they need to 'get the germs away'. This supports children's health and well-being.
• The manager has fully considered the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on some children's social and communication skills. For instance, she made videos of staff reading stories and singing songs to provide more emotional support for children who were anxious. This has allowed children to feel more comfortable on returning to the nursery.
• The knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), who is also the manager, knows children's needs well. She ensures that any concerns are brought to the attention of parents quickly and puts strategies in place straight away. This ensures that gaps in children's development close quickly.
• There is a secure key-person approach across the setting. Children have built trusting relationships with those staff looking after them. For example, babies enjoy cuddles with their key person and give them eye contact while playing a game of peekaboo. Staff plan children's transitions to new rooms well, which are based on their individual needs. This helps children to feel safe and secure.
• Staff encourage children to develop social skills. For example, they demonstrate how to take turns. Staff praise children when they are kind and considerate to others. They involve older children in day-to-day jobs, such as 'lunch monitors'. This helps children to feel confident and develops their self-esteem.
• Partnership with parents is good. Parents speak extremely highly of the nursery. They describe the staff as an extension of their family. Parents feel that they are listened to and give huge praise to the 'kind and caring' staff team.
• The dedicated and passionate manager ensures that staff receive the mandatory training they need. However, the manager has not yet focused professional development on enhancing staffs knowledge and practice to a higher level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the planning and implementation for some adult-led activities to further build on what children know and can do
• develop opportunities to extend staff's knowledge and practice to an even higher level.