Bright Star Day Nursery England Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The kind and nurturing staff form strong relationships with children. Children are very happy at the setting. They smile and laugh as they play and interact. Staff follow children's lead and empower them to make choices about their learning. For example, children choose which activities to engage in, which resources to select and for how long. This helps children to feel confident and valued. Children show pride in their achievements. For example, when one child has success in using a challenging craft tool, she exclaims, 'Wow, I did it.' Staff encourage children to use good manners and praise them when they do. For example, children use please and thank you at snack time and staff teach them to wait until everyone is finished to go and play. This supports children to develop good social skills.

Developing children's communication and language is at the heart of the curriculum. Staff and children constantly talk together, sing songs and play with words. Staff plan a wide range of engaging activities, which children are eager to experience. For example, children develop a love of reading during story times, they grow their imaginations through painting, and they practise their communication skills by speaking to each other through a long pipe suspended from the wall. Staff implement a curriculum that supports children to make progress across the seven areas of learning.

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

• Developing children's fine motor skills is a priority for staff. For example, children enjoy dough time where they sing, 'I like to roll it, roll it' and 'I like to pinch it, pinch it' while they roll and pinch play dough with their fingers. This strengthens the small muscles in their hands, which prepares them for later writing.
• Children learn about the importance of being healthy through daily routines. For example, as staff sit and eat with the children, they talk about healthy food choices, and they sing a song while they wash their hands, which supports good hygiene. This helps children to lead healthy lifestyles.
• Staff encourage children to become increasingly independent. For example, children locate their own coats from their labelled pegs, spread butter on their toast, pour drinks at mealtimes and blow their own noses. This supports them to be able to manage their own care needs.
• During play, staff talk to the children frequently about shapes, colours and numbers. For example, children name colours when they play with resources in blue water, and they count the marks they make with chalks on the fence outside. During planned mathematics activities, children match different coloured animals to bowls and hammer shapes onto cork boards to make pictures. This supports children's mathematical development.
• Staff understand what the children are learning and their next steps. However, they do not always understand and implement the curriculum intentions precisely enough to build on children's existing knowledge and skills. For example, when cutting along patterns and shapes, staff do not support children to hold scissors correctly or adapt the task appropriately to make it achievable. This may prevent children from making the very best progress.
• Leaders and managers continually work to improve the quality of provision. They receive regular support and advice from the early years team in the local authority. For example, they have recently implemented a new planning system that identifies children's next steps, so that children make even more progress. Regular observations of practice enable leaders and managers to identify training needs and offer professional development opportunities.
• Leaders and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) well. They use guidance from specialist professionals to meet children's individual needs. The sensory room provides children with a calm environment, where they can explore different textures, lights and sounds.
• Parents feel that their children are happy and safe at the setting. One parent describes the staff as 'family'. Parents say that their children make good progress, particularly in their speech and language development. However, staff do not gather detailed information from parents when children first start, to help them identify next steps in learning and not all parents access the information staff provide about children's learning and progress. This may limit the continuity of learning for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to understand and implement the curriculum intentions more precisely to consistently build on children's existing knowledge and skills
• strengthen communication with parents further, both before children start and during their time at the setting, so that children can make even better progress.