Cedar Park Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident and settled. There are high expectations for children to build on what they know and develop their ideas, with support from skilled staff. Children play in a safe, inviting and well-designed environment. There is a strong focus on outdoor play. Children develop great enthusiasm to explore and learn about the world around them. They spread out across the vast outdoor area and find interesting things to see and do. Children take risks as they use various equipment to build, climb and balance. This promotes children's physical development well.

Children in the baby room benefit from their personal needs being met by the caring and nurturing staff. Babies and toddlers are curious to explore a wide variety of sensory activities. They have fun investigating different materials, such as animal figures, dinosaurs, natural materials and vegetables in their play. Older toddlers have fun copying action songs, listening to stories and pretending to bake with a variety of cooking utensils, flour and spices. Older children in the pre-school room develop essential skills for future learning. They build excellent friendships and play imaginatively and collaboratively. For example, children deeply engage in the exploratory kitchen, using herbs and vegetables. They excitedly tell staff that they are having a 'salad picnic'. Children play harmoniously. Staff regularly praise them for helping, sharing and being kind to others. All children make good progress in their learning, including those who receive additional funding.

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

• Overall, staff know the children well and understand what they need to learn next. They are enthusiastic and keen to engage in the children's play. However, on occasions, staff do not clearly focus on the intended learning for the activity, to raise children's development to an even higher level.
• Children of all ages are interested and motivated in their play. Staff use their knowledge of children's interests and development to shape a curriculum that is exciting. For example, children learn mathematical concepts, such as 'bigger', 'smaller', 'long' and 'short', as they choose materials to create a dinosaur swamp.
• Staff support children's emerging language skills well. Staff working with young children use familiar books, props and repetition to develop children's understanding. Staff supporting older children use non-fiction books and skilful questioning which encourage children to express their ideas and develop new vocabulary.
• Children develop an excellent sense of right and wrong. They display exceptional behaviour and respect for others. Staff positively reinforce behavioural expectations and highly praise children's achievements through initiatives such as 'pebbles in the jar'. This admirably fosters children's self-esteem and confidence.
• Children learn about their community and develop an excellent understanding of others. Staff encourage children to be kind and thoughtful. For example, children enjoy opportunities to visit an elderly care home and draw pictures to share with the residents. However, these visits have ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The special educational needs coordinator works effectively to support staff working with children who require additional support. Staff work collaboratively with other professionals involved in children's care, in particular children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, children achieve good outcomes, which helps them to prepare well for their future learning and skills.
• The nursery benefits from a strong team of managers who have an overview of the curriculum and know what they want children to learn. Leaders and staff work well together as a team to move the nursery forward and implement continuous improvement.
• The newly appointed nursery manager and leadership team implement successful strategies to support staff and develop their practice. Staff say that they feel valued, supported and included. Leaders feed back to staff following their observations and encourage staff to reflect on their own performance. This is revisited during supervision meetings and used to identify any further training that staff may benefit from.
• Staff work well in partnership with parents. Parents comment positively on staff's ongoing communication and how they keep them updated about their child's development and learning. For example, staff use a dedicated online application, have discussions, send newsletters, organise events for parents and have devised parent workshops. Parents speak highly of the nursery and the care that their children receive.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus more precisely on the intended learning of activities, to help children make the best possible progress.