Brook Babes - Streamside Cottage LTD

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at this welcoming nursery. Staff form positive relationships with all children and know them well. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Babies smile and become excited while interacting with staff. Children's behaviour is good. Staff consistently model the behaviour they expect. Positive attitudes to learning are embedded by staff as they engage frequently with children. Children share toys and equipment and play cooperatively with each other. Children listen intently and follow instructions. Older children are engaged in play and learning for prolonged periods.

Children make good progress in their physical development. Staff encourage children to develop a range of physical skills. For example, in the baby room, staff support babies to develop skills such as crawling, rolling and sitting up. Staff plan opportunities for children to develop confidence in taking safe risks as they explore. For instance, in the toddler room, when children balance as they use the climbing apparatus, staff remind them to hold on to the rail. Staff stand close by to support, ensuring children's safety. Children listen and practise coordinating their movements. Toddlers are confident to use the equipment and negotiate space.

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

• Children are supported to develop their communication and language skills. For example, in the baby room, staff sing nursery rhymes, and children excitedly listen. Staff help to develop children's love of books. For example, when staff read familiar books, children begin to recite part of the stories from memory. Children in the pre-school room are invited to recall what happens in the story that they have read.
• Children enjoy taking part in forest school activities, where they immerse themselves in carefully thought-out activities. For example, children enjoy creating artwork using conkers and autumnal colour paint, showing an understanding of the natural world. Staff support children to develop their mathematical knowledge. For example, children count the number of conkers. However, the curriculum and staff's planning are not always as well developed outdoors. This means that, outdoors, children are not consistently supported to consolidate their learning and provided with further learning opportunities as they are indoors.
• Parents report that their children are happy. Parents say their children's confidence has developed since attending the setting. Managers and staff gather information from parents to help them understand children's needs. They use this information to plan and provide support for all children. Staff share information with parents about activities their children enjoy and their child's daily care routines.
• Staff encourage children's independence. For instance, children wash their hands for mealtimes. In the pre-school room, staff encourage children to self-serve. Children use serving spoons to collect their food. However, staff do not consistently promote the use of self-care, when children feed themselves using cutlery. Children take responsibility for tidying away their plates and cutlery when they have finished eating their meals.
• Staff actively encourage and support children's healthy eating and lifestyles. They offer children a nutritious range of foods to encourage good health. Children are provided with water and milk. Staff understand the importance of promoting good oral hygiene. Children learn the importance of brushing their teeth. For example, staff provide activities for children to learn how to use toothbrushes, such as brushing the teeth on dental care models.
• Staff know the signs linked to online safety that may indicate a child is at risk of harm and understand how to report concerns. The management team has supported parents to keep their child safe online at home. This information has been shared with staff. However, the management team does not always check staff's understanding of what they have learned frequently enough. As a result, staff have yet to embed how to promote children's growing awareness of how to safely use the internet and digital technology.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to strengthen the implementation of the curriculum outdoors so that children can expand on learning opportunities that were originally created as part of the indoor provision
• further support children during mealtimes to promote their self-help and independence skills and how to use cutlery correctly
• strengthen staff's awareness of online safety so that they can use this knowledge to raise children's awareness of online safety.