Buttercup Barn Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Babies and children eagerly arrive at the nursery. Staff welcome them warmly, helping children feel safe and secure. Children form close relationships with their key person and other staff working with them. Staff show kindness and offer patient reassurance to help new children settle. Children's move between rooms is equally sensitively supported. Parents comment that they like that their children now move on as a group, so are still with their friends.

There is a calm atmosphere across the nursery. Babies develop respect for others. They learn to take turns and play cooperatively together. Staff plan interesting activities to help children learn about and understand emotions. This includes children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND). Older children discuss how music makes them feel, and they use mirrors to explore making different facial expressions. Children's literacy skills develop well. Babies snuggle in to share a book with staff. Young children listen attentively as staff read them a story. Staff are thoughtful in the resourcing of the environment. Older boys are inspired at the creative table. They look up things to draw in books and develop their ideas very effectively, for example creating a 'stripey dinosaur' and planning their creation of a volcano. Children make good progress and develop positive attitudes to learning.

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

• The new leadership team, consisting of a change of directors and managers, has reviewed all aspects of practice since taking over last year. The team has closely supported the existing staff, and new staff joining them receive a thorough induction to nursery practice. Managers ensure there is a suitable mix of qualified and unqualified staff deployed throughout the nursery. They are dedicated to ongoing development, implementing their clear action plans.
• Team leaders and key persons carefully plan a targeted curriculum. They form this from the regular observations and precise assessments carried out on children's learning and development. They provide a stimulating range of carefully thought out experiences in a very well-resourced environment for each age group. They act promptly if children are behind expected development, working together with parents and putting in place additional support. Staff work diligently to ensure children with SEND can reach their potential.
• Children's healthy lifestyles are well promoted. The nursery has designated gardens for each age group and an extensive array of fields and woodlands. These provide children with wonderfully inspiring opportunities to be active outside and explore the natural world. Children enjoy nutritious meals prepared by the nursery cook. Their dietary requirements are strictly adhered to.
• Children develop their independence skills and sense of responsibility well.
• Babies help to tidy away toys. Young children enjoy cooking activities. Older children take an active part in mealtimes. They collect their drinks, serve some of their food and help clean up items afterwards.
• Support for children's mathematical development is embedded well into daily practice. Babies sort shapes and enjoy number songs. Toddlers learn to count and name colours. Older children confidently discuss quantity and recognise numbers. However, occasionally, some staff do not adapt their teaching or their support for children during activities, to fully extend children's learning. At times, staff do not model clear speech for the babies or encourage older babies to persevere with tasks. In the older age groups, staff sometimes move children or staff between activities, which disrupts children's attention and engagement.
• Staff have good partnerships with parents and other professionals working with the children. There is a two-way flow of information to ensure a consistent approach across all aspects of children's lives. Thoughtful resources are offered to support home learning. Resource bags are available to help parents support their children through 'life events', such as the arrival of a new sibling. Parents are very positive about the staff. They say that staff show genuine care for the children and that every day they see the learning their children achieve.
• Staff's well-being is thoughtfully considered. Staff feel valued and listened to. Regular supervision and team meetings, and staff's professional development, are integral to management's practice. Staff undertake early years qualifications and a wide range of appropriate training. The manager undertakes regular observations of staff's practice. She recognises that these processes need further extension to help develop staff's teaching skills even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adapt teaching and the support staff offer children in activities to extend children's development and skills as much as possible
• extend the support for the observation and development of staff's teaching, to help all staff interact and support children's learning to a consistently high level.