Busy Bees at Sandy

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at the nursery. Staff support children's social and emotional development well across the nursery. Staff cuddle babies and allow children to wake up in their own time. They sensitively support children who become upset. This gives children a sense of security. Staff skilfully help older children to understand and begin to regulate their behaviours. When children begin to throw soft toys, staff turn this into a game, challenging them to aim for a target. Children use their manners and demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. Staff help children understand their communities and challenge their thinking. When talking about people who help us, staff explain to children that they can be men or women. This helps children to consider the views of others.

Staff willingly read to children with expression and energy. Children ask staff to read to them throughout the day, indoors and out. They look at books by themselves and handle them with care. This helps children to develop a love of reading. There is a strong focus on children's physical development. Babies move freely, crawling to explore their room as well as laying down to relax when they need. Staff model the different ways that animals move. Children join in stretching, slithering and stomping, imagining they are the animals. Older children navigate an obstacle course. These activities help children to understand risks during play and the limits of their own physical abilities.

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

• The team has undergone recent staffing changes, and the nursery leaders have worked hard to maintain a stable and secure environment for children to flourish. Staff feel well supported personally and professionally by leaders. As a result, they remain committed to developing their skills and providing the education that promotes children's all-round learning and development.
• The leaders have an accurate overview of the quality of the nursery. The shared curriculum aims to develop provision so that children achieve good progress. There is a continuous development plan in place to upskill staff. This includes targeted training to develop teaching skills.
• There is strong partnership working between staff and parents. These relationships have been built on mutual trust. Staff and parents share pertinent information about children's needs. This includes working together to help parents understand how to support children's learning and development at home.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. Staff work closely with parents and develop good partnerships with other agencies to support children's learning. They implement the agreed strategies and follow children's learning closely. This helps these children make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff know the children well. They have good knowledge of how children learn and make accurate assessments of their development. This enables staff to plan interesting, enjoyable experiences for the children. However, at times, these experiences, particularly for toddlers, are not always implemented skilfully by staff. This means that some younger children do not receive consistently high-quality experiences.
• Staff underpin the curriculum by helping children to develop strong foundations in communication and language. They talk to the babies and children constantly, so they hear a good range of conversational words. Staff use some interesting words, such as introducing fruit as 'citrusy' and 'refreshing'. However, sometimes, this vocabulary does not extend consistently throughout the children's day to provide a rich language experience.
• Staff help children to learn through music. They gain babies' attention, encouraging them to look and listen before starting the song. Babies make animal noises and giggle with delight as they try to make a noise like a lion. Toddlers choose items from a bag and make connections with the song they will sing next. They copy actions and words, moving their whole bodies.
• Older children demonstrate their readiness for the next stage of their education. Staff facilitate games that require them to follow rules, such as 'Duck, duck, goose'. They excitedly wait their turn and cheer their friends on when the racing begins. Older children operate independently throughout the day with confidence. Staff encourage them to rub in their own sunscreen and become self-reliant when following hygiene routines.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed further staff professional development to develop teaching skills further, with particular reference to interactions with children
• help staff to increase the range of language-rich experiences for younger children during play.