Burngreave Just For Kidz

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children separate from their parents confidently and are keen to play with their friends. Staff provide a warm, nurturing environment for children and show genuine care for their well-being. They provide support to families and are starting to welcome parents back into nursery, since the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have eased. This has had a positive impact on communication with parents and promotes consistency for children. Children are enthusiastic to come into nursery and show that they feel happy and safe with staff. They are keen to explore their surroundings and begin to develop good levels of self-confidence.

Children are eager to learn. They enthusiastically fill containers with flour and persevere when using digging utensils. Children show good physical endurance as they play in the enabling environment outside. For example, they excitedly bang hanging pans. Children show high levels of confidence as they greet visitors and are well behaved. They follow familiar routines at the setting and demonstrate good listening and attention skills. For example, children sit on the carpet at group time and join in with songs and familiar rhymes.

Most children who attend this nursery come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Staff have high expectations for all children to achieve and do well. They treat each child as an individual and provide an inclusive environment. For example, staff encourage parents to provide key words in their child's home language and to share special celebrations.

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

• Children's language and communication are well promoted across the setting. Children participate in lots of singing and story time routines. In addition, staff talk and sing to children during daily care routines, such as at nappy changing times. This helps to promote children's speech development.
• The curriculum for children is interesting and exciting. Staff provide opportunities for children to broaden their experiences and build secure foundations for their future learning. For example, staff focus on helping children to become independent in their self-care from an early age.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities exceptionally well. They are knowledgeable about children's individual needs. Staff have effective strategies in place to identify gaps or potential delays in children's development. The special educational needs coordinator takes swift action to provide intervention at the earliest opportunity. Staff use additional funding to support children's development. For example, they use visual aids to support children's early communication skills and understanding of daily routines.
• Staff have very close relationships with children and meet their care needs effectively. For instance, staff who work with babies know their routines for sleeping and when they will become hungry. They soothe babies who have just woken up and provide cuddles for reassurance. Older children know they can go to staff to ask for help and show confidence in their own ability.
• Staff plan the environment so that children can freely access activities of their choice, such as play dough, puzzles, construction and role play. Children are motivated learners who are confident to express their wishes.
• Children make good progress in their learning. They experience quality interactions and a wide range of learning opportunities. However, staff do not consistently react and respond to children's ideas. On occasions, they do not challenge and extend children's learning and thinking skills further.
• Staff know their key children well. They agree individual support plans with parents to support their children's development. However, professional development opportunities for staff have not yet been extended to ensure that staff consistently share precise information with parents about their children's development.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery and feel included in their child's learning. Staff gather information about children's abilities when they first start. The manager and staff have communicated well with parents throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop children's thinking skills, and consistently scaffold, challenge and extend children's learning during activities
• extend staff's professional development to help them consistently share precise information with parents about their children's development.