Carlton Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily enter this inviting nursery where they are warmly greeted by attentive staff. Staff provide a wide range of exciting learning opportunities that interest and engage children. Babies show delight as they engage in messy play, making patterns as they push cars through paint, stamping their feet in puddles and using tools to scoop up sand. These activities help to support children's strength and coordination skills.

Children learn to behave well and show kindness and respect for one another. For example, when some children seem unsure if they should go outside to play, other children go over to take their hand and reassure them. Children are supported to develop their independence skills and show high levels of confidence. Older children carefully serve their own meals at lunchtime. Staff help children to recognise their own needs. For example, children learn to get a drink when they are thirsty and use a tissue to wipe their nose.

Staff are receptive to children's interests. They foster children's love of books by sitting alongside younger children, encouraging them to turn the pages and talking to them about what is happening in the story. This helps to support children's language and communication skills. Older children show excitement as they recall favourite stories they have listened to. They use a range of vocabulary to describe the features of a character, such as 'orange eyes' and 'large claws'.

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

• Managers and staff have worked hard to address the actions raised at the last inspection. They have worked collaboratively with other professionals to improve staff practice and strengthen their interactions with children. The curriculum has been reviewed and developed throughout the nursery to ensure that all children make good progress and reach their potential. Staff's safeguarding knowledge and understanding have been embedded through regular training events. This has helped to ensure that all children are safe and staff understand the procedures they must follow.
• Staff gather important information from parents and carers when children start at the nursery. They use this information to help them plan for children's interests and individual learning and development needs. Staff have clear intentions for what they want children to learn. Children are highly motivated and eager to take part in the stimulating activities on offer.
• Staff interact enthusiastically with children during play. Children have fun as they explore equipment outside. Staff help them to develop their physical abilities and coordination. Children beam with joy as they climb up ladders and learn how to push themselves along on tricycles.
• Staff promote children's awareness of numbers through rhymes and songs. Staff show children how to use their fingers to 'take away' while they sing. However, staff do not consistently encourage children to use and develop mathematical language during activities, for example when putting ingredients into a bowl or laying the table ready for lunchtime.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Staff take prompt action to engage with parents and other professionals to ensure that children receive the support they need. Early intervention and effective partnership working help children with SEND to thrive and achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Children develop positive relationships with one another and staff. Staff promote children's social skills during mealtimes as they sit with children and initiate and join in with conversations. Children are encouraged to undertake a range of tasks by themselves, such as pouring drinks and scooping food onto their plates. However, staff are not always quick to recognise when some children require additional support, for example to use and handle cutlery appropriately.
• Staff give high priority to supporting children's speaking and listening skills. Staff in the baby room immerse themselves in children's play, utilising every opportunity to support early communication skills. Babies watch carefully as staff talk to them, making sounds in response. Staff throughout the nursery sing songs and action rhymes. Children learn to be confident communicators.
• Parents value the care and attention that staff provide for children. They comment that they receive regular information so they know what children have been doing each day and how they are progressing. Parents are supported to extend their children's learning at home. They state that they feel reassured that children are cared for in a safe and secure environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in recognising and promoting children's mathematical language and understanding during activities
• help staff to recognise and offer assistance when older children need support at mealtimes.