Butter Daisy Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this warm and welcoming environment, where staff create an atmosphere of happiness and joy. Staff are kind, caring and know children and their families extremely well. For example, they use a wealth of information from conversations with parents to gain a firm understanding of children's interests, past experiences, heritage and what makes them unique. Staff prioritise the happiness and well-being of all children in their care. This helps children to feel safe, secure and have a sense of belonging.

Staff are positive role models and have high expectations for behaviour. They treat children with kindness and respect, at all times. This contributes to children's exemplary social skills, from the outset. Younger children learn how to use good manners and turn-taking during play. Older children are kind, patient and respectful towards their friends.

Staff have an extensive understanding of children's development. They create a unique and inspirational learning environment, which helps children to become highly creative and curious learners. For example, babies show excitement as they create paintings using mud, water and sand. They giggle as they explore the feeling of different textures in their fingers. Older children work cooperatively to create complex constructions with bamboo canes. Staff skilfully encourage them to make predictions and test out their ideas, igniting their interests further. Staff accurately assess and expertly build on children's knowledge and skills. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make exceptional progress from their starting points.

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

• Experienced and knowledgeable leaders, invest heavily in the staff team. There is a highly effective programme of monitoring, support and training for all staff. For instance, staff receive bespoke training tailored to the age, stage and needs of the children they work with. This helps staff to enhance their expertise further. Leaders place a great emphasis on the well-being of staff. For example, they organise awards evenings to celebrate staff's outstanding practice and achievements. This supports staff to feel empowered and valued in their roles. Staff share that they are incredibly proud to be part of the team.
• Leaders and staff are truly inspirational. Together, they create an exceptional curriculum that is ambitious and expertly embedded across the nursery. Staff understand precisely what children need to learn and teaching is of a consistently high quality. Children absorb new physical skills that they learn. For example, babies develop core strength as they reach out to grasp the small balls, that staff roll close to them. Toddlers strengthen the small muscles in their hands as they use paint brushes to make detailed marks on paper. Older children practise their cutting skills with scissors. Staff are close by to gently guide them to reposition their fingers, helping them to use scissors more effectively.
• Children's communication and language skills are given the highest priority. Staff swiftly identify any delays in children's speaking skills and work closely with parents and professionals to create individual learning plans, that target these gaps. Staff focus on supporting all children to communicate with confidence. For example, they use sign language to aid communication when speaking to them. Babies demonstrate they have learned this skill by signing 'more' and 'thank you'. Staff model language with precision, asking questions that successfully engage children in meaningful conversations. This highly inclusive approach helps all children, including those with SEND, make superb progress and develop into confident communicators.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe. For instance, children learn about the importance of water safety. Older children are taught about crucial safety skills when swimming. For instance, they learn how to float on their back, stay calm and call for help if they are in danger. This promotes children's capacity to judge danger and to keep themselves safe as they grow. Furthermore, leaders provide extensive safeguarding information to parents, such as understanding how to protect children from harm and promoting online safety at home. This contributes to keeping children safe.
• Staff support children to develop their self-care and independence from an early age. For example, babies find their own cups when they need a drink and learn to feed themselves with a spoon at mealtimes. Staff help children learn how to keep themselves healthy. For instance, they remind children to cough into the fold of their elbow to catch the germs and wash their hands afterwards. Older children take pride in carrying out tasks, such as cleaning tables before preparing food. They know how to wait a few minutes for the antibacterial spray to 'kill' the germs. This helps children to gain important life skills they need for the future.
• Leaders demonstrate an exemplary approach to working in partnership with parents. They share children's assessments and next steps in learning through written reports and face-to-face meetings. Parents greatly appreciate the workshops that staff organise. For instance, they attend sessions on key areas of child development, such as understanding behaviour, preparation for school, and ideas to support their children's learning at home. These sessions are made available online for those parents who cannot attend. Parents comment on the excellent progress their children make, especially in their confidence and speech and language skills.