Catkins Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children get the best possible start at this nursery. Staff deliver an excellent personal development curriculum. Children learn how to access the provision alongside other children, especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff sensitively help children to learn concepts, such as sharing and the impact that their behaviour has on others, when they take toys from other children.

There is a key focus throughout the curriculum on helping children to play and explore and begin to engage in learning. Children with SEND have developed their concentration skills from when they first started to attend. They can now access direct learning for 10 minutes at a time.

Many children on arrival for their session are unable to control or manage their emotional responses. However, the highly skilled and trained staff utilise their knowledge and skills to the full extent to help children to control their emotions. This enables children to access and benefit from the environments and activities to aid their learning. Children love this setting. They enjoy their sessions and develop a fondness for learning and exploration. This is helped because staff understand how children prefer to learn and foster this.

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

• The curriculum has been expertly crafted to meet the needs of the range of children who attend. Staff have been trained in the curriculum, which means it is understood and delivered with preciseness.
• Staff have an exceptionally sharp focus on the prime areas of learning. They plan activities that enable children to practise skills repeatedly. This means children hone their skills ready for the next stage in their learning. Children who speak English as an additional language remember and use more words over time. Children with complex needs learn to regulate their emotions and begin to communicate their needs through incremental steps over time. Children with disabilities receive support from one-to-one staff, who are ambitious for them. These children can write numbers before they leave the setting to start school.
• The provider's understanding of the local needs and issues means children benefit from activities that broaden their experiences. The whole curriculum is delivered through developing children's love and interest of books. Staff teach children key vocabulary, which gives them essential knowledge for their future learning. Many children start attending the nursery with poor spatial awareness and low-level agility skills. The design of the environment and the plentiful access to the outdoor area helps children to develop these skills rapidly over time.
• Partnership working is a key strength in this nursery. Leaders are tenacious in ensuring all children have their needs met, whether this be through in-house interventions and support or the support children need from other agencies. When children do not receive external support in a timely manner, leaders advocate for children on their behalf to get their needs met. Parents cannot speak more highly of this provision. Staff understand how parents prefer to communicate and tailor their communications with parents through these channels. All parents are part of children's assessments. They know their child's progress and their role in supporting this further at home. Staff at this nursery think about the whole family and their needs because they understand the adverse impact that family life can sometimes have on children's learning.
• Staff have carefully considered how to teach children experiences beyond their own. Children learn about the world beyond their own flat or street, consider where in the city they live and the different people who live in that city. Staff welcome parents into the nursery to share their own customs and traditions, such as food. This helps children to know how they are similar and different to other children who attend.
• The promotion of children's healthy lifestyles is broad to consider the range of physical health needs of all children. Examples include encouraging children to drink water to help prevent tooth decay and signposting parents to specialist dentists to support SEND children to access dental treatment. Some children arrive at the nursery hungry, so staff ensure they can access food throughout the session so they can concentrate on learning. Staff are quick to identify children who may spend too much time online or access inappropriate online content at home, and they address this swiftly.
• The leadership of this nursery is exemplary. The director acts with integrity to ensure additional funding is utilised and distributed to have the greatest impact on children's learning and development. She has high standards and drives practice forward through effective supervision of staff. This helps staff to improve their performance, especially their teaching, continuously. Staff report high levels of well-being. This is demonstrated through their warmth and affection with the children. The vision for high-quality care has been delivered through rigorous self-evaluation and reflection to meet the needs of all children who attend this outstanding nursery.