Castle View Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have extremely secure relationships with a familiar, highly inspirational staff team. The key-person system is strongly embedded, which allows children to feel safe within the learning environment. Children show intense levels of engagement and enjoyment when interacting with staff, and make continuous progress in their development.

Children are very curious and confident when exploring their environment. They are extremely happy and settled, and display a strong sense of well-being. Children have fun singing rhymes together, listening to stories in groups, and moving around in the large garden throughout the day. They are highly motivated to learn and are given frequent opportunities to follow their interests.

Children demonstrate exceptional behaviour and social skills for their age. They demonstrate high levels of respect for others and self-control. The older children are able to resolve conflicts independently, such as by sharing resources. The younger children play calmly and cooperatively alongside one another. The children display an excellent understanding of the routine and enjoy mealtimes, especially lunchtime. The children develop their own likes and dislikes, and have opportunities to talk about new, healthy foods choices.

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

• Staff know the children extremely well and have an excellent knowledge of what children need to learn next. They create inviting activities, adapt the environment and follow children's interests to extend learning. This allows children to develop a positive attitude and become confident learners.
• Staff understand the importance of developing children's communication and language from an early age. They are very responsive to babies when they babble and make gestures. Older children use language confidently and fluently to share interests, make requests and resolve conflicts. All children enjoy singing a variety of songs, and listen intently to staff reading and telling exciting stories. Staff use questioning effectively to encourage children to develop their communication and language skills.
• Staff have extremely high expectations for children's conduct and behaviour. This is consistent across all age groups of children and is reinforced through the use of positive language and praise. Children are given explanations of their behaviour to help them understand right from wrong, and how this affects others.
• Staff treat all children with equal respect and actively incorporate the varied backgrounds of children into their learning. For example, children who speak English as an additional language are given opportunities to learn new words and engage in cultural experiences relative to their heritage.
• Partnership with parents is extremely effective. Staff regularly share detailed information about children's learning, and provide extensive support to parents when needed.
• Staff's superb level of knowledge allows them to identify any gaps in children's learning. All children, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), receive highly coordinated levels of support. The SEND coordinator is confident in seeking further support from external agencies if necessary.
• Staff report on consistent support from leaders and managers, which is reflected by extremely high staff morale. Team meetings are used very effectively to reflect on what is working well and if any areas need improving. Leaders provide additional training to ensure that staff feel confident and continue to make progress in their practice and personal development.
• The management team is very strong and highly effective. Managers and leaders have a clear, ambitious vision of the nursery, which is evident by their continuous evaluation and reflection. These values are shared by staff, who are adaptable in making changes where necessary to meet the needs of all children. This helps to ensure that children's care and education are of the highest standard.