Buttercups Nursery School Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly greeted at the gate by staff that are happy to see them. Kind and caring staff support the children's personal, social, and emotional development well. For instance, children separate into groups when they have settled. During this time, staff encourage children to think about how they feel, and to share this within the group. Children feel appreciated, as staff listen intently to what they say. They give children time to speak and share how they feel. Children are developing good foundations in understanding and reflecting on their feelings, which helps them to self-regulate their emotions and understand the impact of their actions on others.

Staff effectively role model the kind and positive behaviours they expect the children to demonstrate. In turn, children are polite, caring, and considerate of one another. Staff are highly skilled at encouraging the children to play amicably together and to share their experiences. For example, children pretend to make a birthday cake in the sandpit area. The staff share children's joy in their role play as they sing happy birthday with them. They ask the children to count how many friends are present to enable them to slice and share the birthday cake. Children count six friends and represent the numbers on their fingers. Staff successfully support their social skills, mathematical development, and their imaginative play.

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

• Managers have failed to notify Ofsted of a significant event as required. However, this does not have a serious impact on children's care or learning and managers have assured Ofsted they understand their responsibility to do this in the future.
• Managers are devoted and committed to ensuring they provide a safe, stimulating, and peaceful environment for staff to work, and children to thrive. Staff receive robust inductions and have regular supervision sessions that support their well-being and continual professional development. This benefits the children and the care and education they receive. Staff report that they feel extremely supported in carrying out their roles and responsibilities. The successful coaching and training that staff receive gives them the tools they need to deliver good quality teaching to the children.
• The curriculum in place is ambitious and well thought out. The managers have a clear vision and understanding of what they want children to learn. This has been articulated well to ensure staff fully understand what they are teaching children and why. In regular team meetings, staff and managers reflect and discuss the curriculum and adaptations are made where necessary. Staff are skilled and confident when implementing the intention for learning in their everyday practice, and through their well-considered interactions and activities.
• Children make good progress in their learning and development.
• The key person system in place is strong. All children have a secondary key person to help support and enhance their learning. The key persons ensure children receive tailored support that is unique to them. They gather valuable information from their starting points and provide appropriate and achievable next step targets for children to achieve. Staff generously praise children and celebrate their successes. This helps children feel proud of themselves, and they develop a positive sense of self.
• Overall, staff support children to share their thoughts and opinions during their play. Communication and language are supported well. Staff promote openness and respect the children as individuals. This helps children feel valued, and most children are secure as they exchange back-and-forth communications with the adults and each other. However, on occasion, some staff members do not make the most of their interactions, particularly when helping the quieter children who need more encouragement to join in with activities. This does not fully support children to build their confidence to participate and add to group discussions.
• Staff effectively deploy themselves to ensure the children are well supervised at all times. They carry out rigorous risk assessments to make sure the environment is safe for children to play and explore. Staff encourage children to think about dangers as they reinforce the rules and boundaries. For instance, when staff ask children not to sit on the mud kitchen, they talk to them and seek their thoughts about why this presents a risk. Children talk about them falling off and hurting themselves on the floor or falling on an object. They are learning secure foundations on how to identify risks and keep themselves safe.
• Parent partnership is deeply rooted in the ethos of the nursery. Managers and staff recognise the value of collaboratively working together to give children high quality care and learning. Parents share examples of the support they receive, such as home visits and consistent communication. Additionally, managers and staff work with other professionals such as local schools to ensure children can successfully transition into their next phase of their learning journey.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's skills in supporting children who are less confident to engage in more purposeful play and learning.