Busy Bees at Edwalton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this busy, vibrant nursery. They leave their parents with ease and eagerly greet staff and their friends. Children are safe and secure. They build strong bonds with the kind and caring staff. Children thoroughly enjoy playing and exploring the outdoor areas. Older children develop strong physical skills as they run safely around the outside area, chasing staff and each other. Babies enjoy tummy time as they learn to stretch out for toys, helping them to develop the strength needed for crawling. Staff support young children well as they help them to ride in push pedal cars and climb and balance on equipment.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They provide exciting opportunities for children to explore. Children behave well and willingly take part in activities planned by the staff. For example, older children use their imagination and creative skills as they discover how to use wax to draw pictures. Staff demonstrate effectively how to press the wax down on the paper and then how to reveal the creations by painting over the top. Children enjoy this and become highly motivated as they draw a chrysalis and a butterfly. They chat among themselves and with staff, sharing their gained knowledge of a butterfly's life cycle.

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

• The management team and staff work well together to provide good quality care and learning experiences for children. They have a good understanding of what children need to learn and how to support their learning effectively. Managers ensure that the educational programme in each age group is clearly sequenced. They encourage staff to provide for children's interests and individual learning.
• The management team provide staff with effective supervision and training as part of their professional development. Recently, some staff have attended training on developing sign language for children. This has had a positive impact on the children, who now use sign language as part of their communication skills. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language have particularly benefitted from this communication method.
• Staff support children's language development effectively. They talk to babies, modelling language well and encourage young children to sing rhymes and songs. For example, children thoroughly enjoy popping bubbles as they sing a song about a turtle in the bath. Staff's skilful interactions help older children develop their speaking skills and widen their vocabulary as they play. They talk about the potions they have made and remember the story about a witch and a broom.
• Staff support children to develop their small-muscle skills for future learning. They provide experiences for children to strengthen their fingers and develop control of tools to help their emerging writing and in preparation for tackling things, such as zips. For example, children squeeze paint out of bottles using their hands, stretching their fingers and swirling the paint on the paper, making circular movements.
• Staff encourage children to make their own choices about their play. Children know where resources are and help themselves to items, such as paint. However, there are times when staff do things for children, rather than encouraging children to try for themselves, such as putting on shoes and taking off jumpers. Also, staff in their enthusiasm during adult-led activities occasionally do not give children time they need to express their own ideas, make predictions or solve problems. This means children have fewer opportunities to develop their independence skills fully.
• Partnership with parents is a strength of the nursery. Parents speak positively about the service they receive and praise the work the staff do. Staff send home regular photos and speak to parents daily to share their children's achievements and learning. They have recently set up a parent lending library using extra funding to help parents and children share reading experiences at home.
• Children are learning important life skills, like sharing and taking turns. They play nicely in the sand and discuss filling socks with sand using spoons. Children share the spoons and take turns to talk. Children behave well and show respect towards their friends and adults. Staff are effective role models and regularly promote good manners, so that children quickly develop these skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to increase their understanding of how to develop children's self-care skills and to encourage children to use their own ideas, predict what might happen and solve problems to increase their independence skills further.