Brighter Beginnings Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and well cared for. The compassionate staff warmly welcome children and their families into the well-resourced nursery. Staff are attentive to children's needs. They spend time getting to know each child. This supports the development of strong attachments between children and staff. These effective relationships help all children to feel that they belong to the caring nursery community. Children develop positive attitudes to their learning and behave well.

There have been improvements to the quality of care and education. Leaders have reflected on the areas for development raised at the last inspection. They have identified appropriate training for staff to help them develop their understanding of how young children learn. This means that the leaders' ambitious and appropriately sequenced curriculum is delivered effectively. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make consistent progress in their learning and development.

Leaders pay significant attention to gaining a deep understanding of the differing experiences that children bring with them when starting at the nursery. They use this knowledge to provide children with a wide range of rich and unique opportunities. This greatly impacts on children's understanding of the wider world beyond their daily experiences, and helps prepare them well for life in modern Britain. Furthermore, staff provide excellent support for children to help them develop their physical and mental health.

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

• The dedicated nursery manager has welcomed the support of external agencies to help her raise the quality of the care and education. Leaders support staff to engage in reflective practice to help them make continuous improvements. The staff share the nursery vision and are committed to the work they do to help children have the best start in life.
• Staff provide learning opportunities that promote the intended aims, which include to raise children's communication and language skills. For instance, staff create enticing activities, such as playing imaginatively with sticks, bricks and hay, to encourage children to recall the events in the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'. Consequently, children learn new language and begin to use this in their own communication.
• Staff assess children's development by observing children frequently and considering their progress. This information is shared with leaders, along with parents and carers, to help ensure that no child gets left behind. However, staff do not always identify opportunities to take children's learning swiftly to the next level. Occasionally, children do not receive the support required to become deeply engaged and extend their learning, to help them achieve as much as they can.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) understands her role in supporting children with SEND. For example, the SENCo works alongside staff, parents and other professionals to ensure children's individual requirements are understood. Children with SEND make progress towards their individual targets.
• The curriculum for personal development is a particular strength. Leaders have meticulously considered the ways that they can help all children gain the essential knowledge they need for their futures. Staff provide a wealth of opportunities to help children pursue their own interests and to try new experiences. These meaningful opportunities deepen all children's learning about themselves, communities, and environments beyond their own. This enables all children to make excellent personal progress, and positively influences their future potential.
• Staff support children to understand the rules of the nursery that help to keep them safe. Leaders and staff talk to children about the need to 'dinosaur stomp' indoors rather than run. Some older children can tell others that they need to use 'indoor voices' and 'kind hands'. Children demonstrate their positive attitudes to their behaviour and learning when they copy adults' affirmations, saying, 'I am kind!' Children are beginning to develop a sense of right and wrong.
• Leaders and staff place value on the development of parent partnerships. Parents feel involved in their child's education because staff invite them to attend sessions such as library time and parents evening. This helps parents to increasingly support children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further enhance their understanding of how to consistently extend children's learning so all children build on what they know and can do.