Buckets & Spades Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff take time to get to know children and their families well. They create a friendly environment where children arrive happily and settle quickly. Staff know what helps to comfort each individual child or how they prefer to go to sleep. This creates a supportive and secure environment for children. Staff's understanding of children's individual needs promotes their learning and their safety. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are included in all opportunities. Staff work diligently with other agencies to make sure that children get the support they need. They continuously assess risks as children play and help them to follow simple rules to keep themselves and others safe. For example, older children quickly sit down on the step outside when the gate has to be opened. This means that staff can watch them more carefully as visitors arrive.

Staff create an interesting and inviting environment to spark children's curiosity. Children confidently explore what is available. For example, babies are excited to find the basket of musical instruments. They smile broadly when staff start to sing a familiar song. Older children sometimes quote the story they have been listening to as they play. For example, they say, 'Jelly, jelly, try some jelly', as they play in the kitchen. Children become confident learners. Parents confirm that their children's confidence has increased considerably since attending the nursery.

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

• Leaders and staff have responded well to challenges and staffing changes. They have reassigned roles and responsibilities to appropriate members of staff. They have also reorganised routines to meet children's individual needs. This has provided children and their families with a good level of consistency and continuity throughout the changes.
• Staff work hard to help children to regulate their behaviour. The clear focus on children's personal, social and emotional development is beginning to have a positive impact. Children are learning to share and take turns, even when they find it difficult. Older children listen for their name to register that they are here. They also learn to raise their hand to take their turn to speak. Toddlers delight in playing 'sleeping bunnies'. They listen patiently for staff to say 'wake up' before they start to jump up and down. They are all beginning to listen to adults and heed what they say. This promotes children's learning and their safety.
• Leaders and staff continually reflect on their practice and provision. The revision of group time in the pre-school room has been particularly successful. The planned development of the outdoor provision is also relevant. However, due to the various changes, monitoring is not having the full impact that it could have. For example, there are short periods of unsettled behaviour. This makes it difficult for children to engage fully with their learning. Additionally, as routines change in the pre-school, full oversight of what babies and toddlers need to learn in preparation for their move onwards is less clear.
• Children develop a love of books. Staff use focus books, stories and rhymes successfully in planning and implementing the curriculum. Babies enjoy the feel of the pages and the colours of the pictures. Skilled storytelling encourages older children to join in with the phrases they are learning. Children learn to use the language of books and stories. However, the target vocabulary and/or focus songs are not always shared effectively with parents. This limits parents' ability to support their children's language at home.
• Staff help children to become independent. This means that older children capably pour their own water and attend to their own hygiene needs. Even the younger children wipe their own nose and put the tissue in the bin afterwards.
• Staff promote children's good health. They discuss care routines and toilet training in detail with parents to maximise children's independence. Staff have worked carefully with parents on the temporary provision of healthy packed lunches.
• Children enjoy developing their physical skills outside in the fresh air. Babies enjoy climbing and balancing on the soft-play equipment indoors. However, access to outdoor play and/or indoor physical play is sometimes impromptu rather than well planned. This does not fully promote children's physical development and well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve children's language skills further, for example, by supporting parents to help children practise their new vocabulary or songs at home
• strengthen further the processes for monitoring and improving the provision to provide even greater continuity in children's learning, for example by looking critically at what unsettles children and interrupts their learning and development at certain times.