Bright Ideas Yeadon - The Old Bank Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in the spacious and inviting setting. Staff understand children's individual needs and help them to quickly settle and build positive relationships. Children show that they feel safe and secure. They approach the kind and nurturing staff if they want a cuddle, and show delight as staff join in with their play. Children's behaviour is good. Staff have clear expectations of children and are consistent in their approach to managing children's behaviour. For example, they remind children to complete their requests and gently encourage them to complete tasks before praising them. This teaches children about rules and boundaries. Children demonstrate high level of self-assurance and self-esteem. They are comfortable with the presence of the inspector and invite her into their play.

There is an ambitious curriculum in place which enables all children to make progress in all areas of learning. Children develop a love of stories and songs. There are many times throughout the day that children have these opportunities. They join in with songs at circle time and enjoy reading stories with staff as a group and individually. This helps to promote children literacy skills and communication and language. Children enjoy trips to the local library to further embed a love of reading. Staff understand the importance of giving children as many opportunities as possible. For example, children enjoy trips to the local park and shops. Children enjoy going to the local shop to buy fruit for their snack. Staff use these experiences to promote children's understanding of the world around them.

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

• Managers are enthusiastic and dedicated to their roles. With input from staff, the curriculum is well planned, sequenced and builds on what children already know and can do. It supports children to gain independence and prepare for school. Staff know the stages of development that their key children are at and what they want them to learn next. However, there is not a secure plan in place for when children's key persons are not in the setting to ensure consistency in all children's learning.
• Parents and carers are complimentary about the setting. They are happy with the communication they receive. Parents praise staff for the role they play in helping children to settle in and make good progress in their learning. Parents receive termly reports detailing their children's progress and next steps in learning. They have the opportunity to discuss this with their children's key person. This joint approach helps staff and parents to work together to support children's development.
• Staff model language effectively and listen to children. They ask questions to encourage children to share their experiences and ideas, and they value children's thoughts and feelings. All children participate in small-group work to help them to develop confident communication and language skills. However, staff do not consistently give children the time they need to process their thinking and answer questions. This does not give children the opportunity to formulate a response and engage in deeper thinking
• Staff provide exciting and varied opportunities for children's learning outdoors and inside as they free flow throughout the day. The encourage children to test out their physical skills as they climb the steps and use the slide with confidence. Children use wonderful team building skills as they manoeuvre large wooden blocks together and use their imaginations to build castles and pirate ships.
• Managers care about the well-being of staff, children and families using the setting. Staff are encouraged to observe each others practice. Managers carry out their own observations and provide staff with regular supervision sessions.
• Managers do not consistently tailor professional development to staff's individual needs. This means there are inconsistencies in the quality of some staff's teaching skills. For example, some staff do not consistently introduce children to mathematical language, such as 'full', 'empty', 'large' and 'small', or use words such as 'few' and 'couple' instead of encouraging children to count This limits children's early understanding of mathematical concepts.
• Children's good health is promoted well in nursery. Staff teach children about making healthy food choices. They provide children with healthy snacks and nutritious home-cooked meals. Staff understand the importance of oral hygiene and have recently asked parents to bring toothbrushes with their children so that children can have the opportunity to brush their teeth at their setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide continuity in learning for children when their key persons are not in the setting
• give children time to process their thinking and respond when asking questions
• strengthen further professional development opportunities to ensure that teaching is of a consistently high quality across the staff team.