Brittons Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from a consistent staff team who have worked together over many years. Good relationships between staff ensure that daily routines and activities run smoothly. As a result, children learn in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), cooperate well and become fully involved with the activities on offer. For example, children listen attentively during group times and start to help with tidying up before meals.

Staff know children well and skilfully organise the environment to meet the needs of individual children. Children establish good relationships with staff and show that they feel safe and emotionally secure in their care. For example, children choose books and snuggle next to attentive staff to listen to stories. As a result, children have ample opportunities to learn new vocabulary throughout the day. Staff skilfully help children make links in their learning. For example, they comment on 'muddy puddles' to help children make connections between a favourite story and their play in the well-resourced garden.

Staff ensure that parents feel welcome to make an appointment to speak to them. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, parents no longer enter the building to drop off or collect their children. This reduces the opportunities for parents to see how their child is progressing in the nursery and speak to their child's key person.

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

• Staff collect good information from parents when children join the nursery and use this effectively to help children settle in. Parents speak highly of the nursery and the progress their children have made there. They are appreciative of the way staff take account of their child's individual needs and preferences. Staff provide regular feedback to parents about their child's progress at nursery. However, there are fewer opportunities to exchange ideas or discuss concerns through incidental conversations.
• Staff are enthusiastic and engaging as they introduce new language throughout the day. For example, they use props, gesture and repetition to help children learn new words, such as spiky, spinning and bounce. They use known strategies to support children to develop good communication and language skills. For instance, they offer choices between two objects. Children learn to use some sign language alongside their spoken language.
• Children develop their early mathematical skills. They join in counting games with excitement as they learn to match numbers to quantities. Staff use mathematical language throughout the day, which helps children to remember what they have learned. For example, during a discussion about Easter, children can confidently say that the egg is oval shaped.
• Children access all areas of the curriculum with confidence and enjoyment. They thoroughly enjoy scooting up and down in the garden. Staff act as excellent role models of cooperation for children. As a result, children play harmoniously together in the large playhouse. Older children spontaneously help their friends to wash their hands.
• The nursery is well organised. Leaders provide good opportunities for staff's professional development. For example, some staff are working towards level 5 leadership qualifications. Staff comment on how proud they are to work at the nursery and are appreciative of the support they receive.
• Staff interact well with children to support their learning and interests. They are extremely attentive to children's individual needs. The manager aspires to help children become independent and prepared for the next stage of their education. However, at times, staff help children to complete tasks that they can do themselves, and some teaching in relation to early literacy may conflict with later learning in schools.
• The manager ensures that any additional funding is spent effectively to have a positive impact on children. For instance, she has purchased resources to support children's speech and language development. The nursery has developed strong partnerships with other professionals, who refer families to them. Teachers from local schools visit to help children make a smooth transition to the next steps in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build further on existing good relationships with parents to provide additional opportunities to share information between home and nursery
• utilise existing good partnerships with schools to better understand how to support children's smooth transition to the next steps in their education.