Care by Claire Private Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders, managers and staff advocate the home-from-home ethos of this warm and nurturing nursery. This helps children to build relationships with key persons so that they feel safe and secure in their environment. Children happily arrive for their day. They separate from their parents with ease and are eager to get involved in the array of exciting and interesting activities and experiences that staff plan and provide for them.

Babies practise their physical skills using soft play equipment. Staff remain nearby and support younger babies to sit up. Older babies enthusiastically cruise, walk, and climb on and over obstacles. Older children develop their communication and language skills through singing familiar songs and rhymes. They confidently chant words they know. Staff give plenty of praise and encouragement to build on children's confidence when they choose to sing songs that they hear at home to their peers.

Children delight in playing outdoors. Two-year-old children explore how to transport water between different sized containers using a variety of tools. They use sponges to absorb and squeeze out water. This helps to strengthen their hand muscles in readiness for later writing skills. Elsewhere, children enjoy using spades and scoops to make sculptures using sand. Staff repeat words such as 'tap' and 'tip'. They encourage children to have a go at saying new words for themselves to build on their vocabulary and early language skills.

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

• Leaders and managers are dedicated and committed professionals. They have a clear vision for the nursery and aim to provide every child with a high-quality early years' experience. Self-evaluation is used effectively. Leaders and managers regularly seek the views of staff, parents, and children. They act on this feedback to continuously improve the quality of provision.
• Leaders and managers have designed an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum for children. This sets out what they expect for each child to know and be able to do in readiness for the next stage in their learning. Staff carefully plan meaningful activities and have clear intent for what they want children to learn during their day. They deliver these activities successfully, incorporating teaching opportunities that support children to make good progress in their learning.
• Staff are passionate about supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Assessment is used to identify any delays in children's development at an early stage. Staff implement plans and targeted support for children to help close gaps in their learning. They work closely with other professionals to obtain the help children need to reach their potential.
• Children behave well throughout the nursery. They follow routines and instructions. Children learn to line up when transitioning around the nursery, and staff carry out regular head-counts to ensure children's safety. Children know how to share and take turns. For example, outdoors, children wait patiently for a bike to become available to ride on.
• Staff are very attentive to children's needs and have a secure understanding of their individual routines. They are responsive to children who become cold when playing outdoors and help them to find and put on extra clothing, such as gloves. Staff supervise and support children when using the bathroom. However, sometimes staff do not have high enough expectations of children. They do not always recognise ways where children could be given opportunities to develop their independence further, such as at mealtimes.
• Parents speak positively about the nursery. They are pleased with the regular information that they receive about their child's care, learning and development. Parents recognise the progress that their children make in their communication and language development, and comment on how their child's vocabulary has expanded since attending the nursery.
• Staff are genuinely happy to be working at the nursery. They speak positively about the friendly culture and the support they receive from leaders and managers. This helps to promote their well-being and relieve them of unnecessary pressures. There are some arrangements in place for the supervision and monitoring of staff, however, this is in its infancy. Therefore, supervision is not yet used precisely enough to identify and provide training and professional development opportunities that enhance their teaching skills even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• explore ways for children to develop their independence even further
• strengthen the arrangements for the supervision and monitoring of staff to enhance teaching to the highest level.