Chaul End Children's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this inspiring nursery. They arrive happily and are excited to begin their play. They choose from a wealth of enticing activities and resources that are readily available. There is a strong focus on supporting children's personal, social and emotional development, which staff identify as an area of need due to the impact of the pandemic. To support this, staff are highly receptive to children's needs. Children enjoy staff's company, inviting them to play their games. They respond happily to staff's praise and reassurance when they face challenge, such as learning to share and take turns. As a result, children's behaviour is excellent.

Children are extremely happy exploring the outdoor area, which is meticulously planned to challenge them in all areas of learning. For example, as children mix paint colours, staff challenge their understanding of mathematical concepts through questioning. Children make excellent progress in their physical development. They develop strength and agility during physically active play as they use parachutes and balance on blocks. This helps to promote healthy lifestyles. During snack time, children enjoy trying a variety of fruit and pouring drinks of water. Staff skilfully use all opportunities to incorporate further mathematical teaching. For example, they introduce new vocabulary such as 'half', 'quarter' and 'whole' when cutting up apples. Children are encouraged to count the segments of tangerines and compare the quantities.

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

• The highly experienced manager and her dedicated and knowledgeable staff have created a successful curriculum that fully supports children's learning and development. They have a very inclusive approach and are fully committed to enabling the best possible outcomes for all the children who attend. The manager is reflective and uses the superb relationship she has with local schools to revise and improve the nursery's curriculum. This helps to prepare children for their transitions to school.
• Staff promptly provide excellent support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The excellent implementation of strategies consistently used within the daily routine ensures all children make progress. For example, staff use programmes, such as 'bucket time', which develop children's listening and attention skills. Staff captivate children's interest, and children are intrigued to find out about the items inside the bucket. Children giggle in response to this engaging activity.
• Staff support and teach children's learning through well-timed interactions, based on the strong knowledge they have of the children's individual development. As a result, children are learning to be effective communicators. Children learn to listen and concentrate as they follow instructions during cooking activities. They are exposed to a wealth of new vocabulary, which is supported by the consistent use of sign language by all staff. For example, as children manipulate malleable materials, staff provide an excellent commentary, using words such as 'knead' to describe children's actions.
• Children learn to value and appreciate a wide variety of cultures and celebrations. For example, as they play, children say they are making 'roti'. Staff skilfully add additional resources into their play to continue their learning, such as candles and cupcake cases, which children use to make birthday cakes. Together, children and staff sing 'Happy Birthday' and talk about the chapati they make at home to celebrate Diwali.
• Children have superb opportunities to access books and develop a love for reading. They eagerly listen to stories and repeat phrases from familiar books. Staff expand children's understanding of characters in books by describing what they look and sound like.
• Staff feel extremely well supported and are keen to extend their own knowledge through higher-level training. The manager uses regular supervisions to ensure staff have positive well-being. She is passionate about her role and uses additional funding to provide children with high-quality staff, who she describes as her 'best resource'.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and staff. They say their children have made excellent progress in their speech and language development. Parents value the 'genuine compassion and care' staff have for their children. They appreciate the effective communication methods used to share important information and daily updates on their children's development. Parents are pleased to borrow resources and activities from the nursery, which helps to continue their children's learning at home.