Castle Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children excitedly enter the nursery with their friends and separate easily from their parents. Staff know the children well and place a strong focus on their happiness. They provide a broad curriculum and an inviting environment, with resources to encourage children to play. For example, older children enjoy experimenting in the mud kitchen outside. They create their own 'chocolate ice cream' and 'birthday cake' to share with their friends. Staff support children and use every opportunity to develop children's learning, including joining in with their imaginative play.

Babies snuggle in with familiar adults to look at books. Toddlers enjoy playing with sensory bottles, shaking them and listening to the noises they make. This helps to develop their sense of belonging and communication skills as staff introduce new sounds and vocabulary.

Children are confident and independent. They explore inside and outside freely, riding on bikes and balancing on the stepping stones. This helps to develop their physical skills and coordination. Children know what they want to do and are able to express their needs well. For example, older children share that they would like to play hide and seek and direct the adults to count, as they find places to hide. All children including those with English as an additional language and special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress from their starting points.

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

• The leadership team manage the nursery well and staff are deployed effectively across the building. Staff report their well-being is good and they feel supported in their work. Regular supervision focuses on staff's professional development, well-being and safeguarding knowledge. Consequently, all staff report they feel valued in their work.
• The staff team provide a curriculum based on children's developmental needs and interests. They use information from settling visits to assess children's starting points and help plan an effective curriculum. Staff take the preschool children off site to access forest school provision. This helps children to learn about the world around them and further develop their independence skills.
• The leadership team form close relationships with staff at the local schools. This helps to support children with transitions. Staff also work in partnership with other settings children attend. This helps to develop a shared approach to children's care and learning.
• Children enjoy freshly prepared meals, cooked on site, and confidently serve their food and pour their water. Babies go out for walks in buggies to the local park and older children access fresh air and exercise in the outside area. Staff remind children to wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet. This helps children to understand the importance of good hygiene and healthy lifestyles.
• Staff provide a range of activities for the children based on what they know and can do. They create opportunities for children to develop their senses, such as play dough and painting experiences. However, on occasion, when staff ask questions, they do not always allow children enough time to respond.
• Children show a high level of concentration and perseverance in their play. They enjoy building with the construction pieces, working together to create tracks for their cars. Children show an understanding of the rules and remind others of the need to share as they put the pieces together. They smile with a sense of achievement when the road is complete.
• Staff ensure that children's settling-in process is as easy as possible. They find out about children's needs and interests from parents right from the beginning. Smooth transitions, as children move throughout the nursery, further support children's safety and well-being. Staff share information about the curriculum with parents and provide updates on the children's day. Partnership with parents is generally very good. Parents are complimentary about the nursery. They report that all staff know their children's names, even if they are not in their key/room group. Parents say that staff provide a variety of challenging activities for the children to do each day. However, staff do not consistently ensure that parents receive precise information about the next steps in their child's learning, to further build on this learning at home.
• The leadership team use additional funding well to help support and meet the needs of intended children. For example, they use funding to pay for farm animals to come and visit. They purchased extra resources to enhance the outside area where children spend much of their time.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff knowledge of questioning skills to allow children time to answer questions and think for themselves
• strengthen the arrangements to share information with all parents to help develop children's learning and development at home.