Budding Learners

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed into this nurturing nursery each day. There is an effective key-person system in place, and this helps to ensure children's individual needs are well met. Children know the nursery routines well and on arrival confidently search for their name pegs to place their hats, coats and bags. They happily join their friends to chat and play. Children sit together for circle time and sing songs to greet each other, waiting their turn to be introduced. They enjoy selecting their favourite nursery rhymes and listen before enthusiastically following the actions of the song. Children enjoy playing and interacting together. For example, they laugh and have fun as they act out the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.

Children behave well and have a good attitude to learning. Staff have high expectations of the children and provide encouragement. Children show curiosity and are intrigued to explore various root vegetables as part of a planned activity. Staff invite the children to smell newly peeled vegetables and explore the different textures. This helps the children learn about vegetables. For example, children can confidently identify and talk about the texture of beetroot, turmeric and cassava. They show curiosity in asking questions and recall from previous learning that vegetables grow with the help of the sun. Staff communicate skilfully with children, and they provide good support to children learning to speak English as an additional language. Staff learn key words in the child's home language to help children settle. Picture cards are also used to help build vocabulary and understanding.

Staff in the baby room ensure babies are nurtured and emotionally supported. They support their next steps. For example, weighted baby walkers are used to aid balance and build confidence for children who are learning to walk.

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

• Children develop their independence skills well. On arrival at nursery, staff encourage children to hang up their coats. At mealtimes, babies are able to feed themselves finger food, and older children pour themselves water from a jug.
• Staff get to know the children well through a robust settling-in process and ongoing conversations with parents. This helps to ensure that children's individual needs are well known and supported effectively by staff.
• Children gain good communication, language and literacy skills. For example, during story time, older children listen carefully and are able to identify the different fruits and predict and retell the story of 'Handa's Surprise'.
• The manager has a clear vision for the nursery and encourages staff to undertake training to build on their knowledge to support children.
• Children learn about good health practices. They wash their hands before meals and independently clean their noses with tissues and discard them appropriately into the bin. They understand the importance of keeping warm. For example, before they go outside to the well-resourced garden, they put on their hats and coats or their hoods and explain that these will help them to stay warm.
• Children are provided with freshly prepared, well-balanced meals and healthy snacks, which take into account their individual dietary requirements.
• Children experiment with open-ended resources, which help to stimulate their imagination. For example, they become enthralled as they use their hands to paint swirls and patterns on cardboard boxes. They squish their hands in the paint to explore the textures and mix different-coloured paints together and marvel at what they create.
• Parent partnership working is strong, and parents speak highly about the manager and staff. Parents value the support given to them to extend their children's learning at home. Staff take the time to speak to parents at the beginning and end of each day, sharing information to ensure children's needs are known and met.
• The manager and staff offer a curriculum that is varied and helps children to learn about their local community. There are planned regular outings to local shops and the park, which parents are invited to attend.
• Staff provide a rich environment that promotes inclusion and equality. For example, there are many displays depicting positive images of different cultures, gender roles and professions. This helps to encourage discussion about differences and creates a sense of belonging and inclusion, as children see people similar to themselves and their families in the displays.
• Children are encouraged to be kind and to support one another. For example, they help each other to find their coats when they go outside to play. They wait patiently for their turn on outdoor tricycles and other equipment.
• Children learn about numbers and shapes. However, staff do not ensure there is consistent teaching of mathematical language in all rooms.
• Occasionally, staff do not always ensure activities in the baby room are planned thoroughly to sustain children's interests. This leads to some children having limited focus times.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance planning to ensure it takes into account how to sustain children's interests within the baby room
• reinforce the use of mathematical language in all areas of the nursery so that children continue to develop the necessary building blocks to excel in mathematics.