Building Blocks Child Care

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff create a very positive and highly inclusive environment where all children thrive. There is an ethos of children learning through being deeply absorbed, exploring and their views being valued. Staff build strong bonds and get to know children extremely well. Leaders and staff are dedicated to their roles. They work tirelessly to provide the very best care and individualised education. Children become deeply absorbed in their play and learning, supported by an ambitious and meticulously sequenced curriculum.

Strong leadership allows staff to continually develop their superb quality of teaching even further. The leadership team's dedication to creating a nurturing and stimulating environment ensures that all children, regardless of background, receive the best start in life. Staff plan the ambitious curriculum and create exciting environments to inspire children's curiosity and promote child-led learning. For instance, children become deeply immersed in a visit from the local petting farm. Children explore the different minibeasts and learn about similarities and differences.

The nursery superbly demonstrates how high-quality early years education can improve outcomes for all children. The nursery's reflective leadership, innovative teaching and firm commitment to each child's well-being and development make it an exemplary model for other settings. For example, it innovatively uses space available to develop a well-being garden, creating a space where children feel safe and secure. The impact of the nursery's work is evident in the confident, happy and well-prepared children who transition from its care.

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

• Leaders foster a culture of openness and respect among all staff so that values and high expectations are shared. Passionate staff deliver engaging and well-planned opportunities to ensure that children experience awe and wonder every day. For example, children become fascinated when they create a rainbow as they pour water onto the water wall. Children are confident to explore their environments.
• Staff work alongside leaders to develop a highly effective and carefully considered curriculum that builds precisely on what children already know and can do. Staff benefit from regular supervision that is supportive and extremely effective at developing their skills. This creates a highly capable, motivated and dedicated team that provides children with an excellent start to their early education.
• Training is considered with purpose to enhance opportunities for children. For example, recent training has enabled staff to embrace children's individuality and skilfully support their learning based on their unique interests. For example, children learn about the life cycle of a frog and how a frog's digestive system is different to a human's digestive system. Staff build on these activities to support children to explore risk safely as they practise their cutting skills with scissors as children piece together the life cycle of a frog. Children become deeply absorbed in their learning.
• Staff work closely with parents and carers to ensure the dynamics of the local community are positively represented and supported. Parents really feel a valued part of the nursery's culture. For example, upon starting, staff seek relevant information from families to identify rich opportunities to weave into the work they do and enhance children's experiences. This includes visits from the police and local dentists as well as visits to the local library. Events for families and children are provided to foster even stronger parent relationships. This helps children to learn about the diverse community they live in.
• Mealtimes are social learning occasions. Children are confident and independent in pouring their own drinks, scraping plates and clearing away. The nursery offers a well-balanced menu of home-cooked, healthy food prepared by their own chef. The chef supports children's knowledge of healthy foods as he regularly plans cookery sessions with children. Children look at raw ingredients and learn the nutritional value of eating well.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are exceptionally well supported. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to enable them to create individual learning support plans. Leaders use additional funding to ensure that children with SEND have the resources and support they need, such as one-to one interactions to boost their high levels of engagement. As a result, children with SEND access learning alongside their peers and make excellent progress from their starting points.
• Promoting children's communication and language skills is at the heart of the nursery. Staff create a language-rich environment where children hear and engage in meaningful conversations. Staff work alongside parents to instil a love of books from a young age. For example, the book club for the youngest children helps promote shared reading with parents and children at home.