Buntings Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm welcome for children when they arrive at the nursery. Children separate confidently from their main carers and quickly seek their friends to play with. They are happy and settle quickly, making decisions about the activities they want to participate in. Young toddlers demonstrate they feel secure and keen to explore their playroom. This is because staff work hard to develop positive relationships with children and provide warm and attentive care, responding sensitively to their needs.

Staff use different teaching practice depending on what they want children to learn. For example, staff model and give explicit instruction to children how to handle and use small tools. Children show persistence when practising new skills. They relish using scissors and tape so they can gift wrap different-sized boxes. This gives children opportunities to develop their fine manipulative skills.

Pre-school staff skilfully teach different areas of the curriculum simultaneously. For example, staff teach children about weight and introduce language linked to the concept of 'floating and sinking'. Staff extend children's play at the water tray. They challenge children to decide what toy animals and resources will float and sink in the water. Children experiment with this idea, and staff support them to learn the language linked to this experience. This helps children make connections in their learning.

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

• The provider and her managers are ambitious and committed to their ethos of the setting. They use self-evaluation and seek the views of others. Managers and staff continually work hard to drive improvements to ensure all children receive tailored, good-quality childcare. They achieve this by finding out the individual needs of children. This informs how they plan the curriculum that celebrates and champions children's uniqueness. Furthermore, managers have a sharp focus to ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have support plans in place to help them catch up.
• Staff in pre-school have a secure understanding of how to plan and deliver a curriculum that is broad and balanced. They provide activities to build on children's existing knowledge and skills. This allows children to make connections in their learning well. However, some staff have some minor misunderstandings in the implementation of the curriculum for the youngest children who attend. Consequently, there are occasions when planning for individual children can be narrowed. For example, staff plan to help children settle in, despite them demonstrating this has already been achieved. Nevertheless, children are exposed to a learning environment that offers a good range of experiences to support their learning. Staff are warm and engaging, offering sensitive support to help children have the confidence to explore and play.
• Very occasionally, when staff teach children new concepts, they can ask too many questions at once. This does not give enough thinking time for children to respond. Despite this, staff show persistence in revisiting ideas in a variety of ways to help embed knowledge for children. Staff are skilled at keeping children interested so there is sufficient time to teach what it is they want children to learn.
• Staff use a variety of teaching strategies to provide children with opportunities to practise their language skills. This includes engaging children in stories, songs and games. For example, children take part excitedly as they chant along to the words connected to a group game, 'Isn't it funny that a bear likes honey. Buzz, buzz, buzz, I wonder why she does'. This supports children to hear and learn rhyming words where they join in confidently with repeated rhyming refrains. This helps to extend children's range of vocabulary.
• On the whole, children behave well. There are some minor occasions when children struggle with their behaviour, including sharing resources. Staff intervene quickly to help children overcome altercations. This includes using sand timers so children learn about turn-taking. However, they do not fully support older children to develop the skills to resolve minor conflicts themselves.
• Parents and other professionals comment enthusiastically about the quality of care provided for children. There is a particular regard for how well the staff support children who need extra help in their learning. Parents receive regular updates about their children's progress and suggestions they can use to further support learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the support for staff working with the youngest age group to refine their skills in planning a broad curriculum
• support staff to recognise when to allow children more time to think through their responses when asking questions
• build further on the support for children to learn how to resolve minor disputes between themselves.