Cheddar First School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Caring and nurturing staff welcome babies as they arrive. An effective key-person system helps babies and young children to form strong bonds with familiar staff. Staff work closely with parents to help them provide comfort and continuity with home. Babies show they feel safe and content as they awake happily from their morning nap and greet staff with cuddles. These positive relationships help babies to settle quickly and engage in the wide range of exciting opportunities staff provide. For example, babies smile at staff and giggle as they splash in the water tray and show excitement as they get ready to play outside with the older children.

The curriculum has a key focus on encouraging babies' personal, social and emotional development, developing their early language and communication skills and supporting their physical development. Staff skilfully weave these priorities into the daily routines. For instance, they help babies recognise themselves and each other in photos during the welcome song. Babies beam as they copy staff and attempt to say their friends' names. This gives babies a strong sense of self and helps them to make early friendships. Babies confidently explore the carefully planned environment. For instance, they enjoy feeling the sand slip through their fingers as they scoop and pour using different tools. This helps babies explore using their senses and enables them to develop and practise new physical skills.

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

• Leaders and managers are dedicated and passionate. They have developed a clear and ambitious curriculum and strive to provide high-quality care and education for all babies. Committed and skilled staff deliver this curriculum with enthusiasm. Staff use effective planning and assessment systems to ensure that any gaps in babies' development are highlighted quickly, and additional support is put in place to ensure all babies make good progress from their starting points.
• Interactions between staff and babies are positive and supportive. Staff praise babies and say 'good job!' when they see babies achieve a goal. For example, staff clap and praise babies as they make animal sounds and point to the correct pictures in books and when young babies walk independently to reach a toy. These interactions help to build babies' confidence and willingness to 'have a go' and take risks.
• Staff continually teach children new vocabulary. They model new words, repeat key sounds and phrases, comment on what babies are doing and sing nursery rhymes. However, staff do not always give babies enough time or opportunities to respond and use this new vocabulary to fully enhance their early communication and language skills.
• Priority is given to welcoming and getting to know each baby and family well.
• Staff use the information parents provide to understand each baby's uniqueness and to personalise the care routines for each baby. Staff provide a wealth of information and advice to support parents and their babies. For example, they have arranged for parents to attend a sleep clinic to help with sleep routines and safe sleeping. Parents are invited to special events throughout the year, such as a 'teddy bears picnic'. These positive relationships support the continuity of care and learning for babies.
• Babies enjoy the activities staff provide to support their physical development when outside. For instance, older babies learn to pedal and steer as they ride in the cars. Staff support younger babies to sit and balance on the see-saw. However, for those babies who have recently learned to climb, staff sometimes prevent them from doing so when inside. For example, staff sensitively stop babies who try to climb on furniture but do not provide suitable alternatives so babies can continue to climb to develop their confidence and ability to climb.
• Parents speak very highly about this 'nurturing environment' and the 'dedicated staff'. They comment on the regular communication and how they feel a part of their baby's learning. Staff include parents from day one and offer support to parents for all aspects of babies' learning and development. For example, leaders and managers arrange for health visitors to visit the nursery regularly to give parents advice about babies' health and well-being.
• Babies are developing a love of stories and books. They enthusiastically crawl and walk over to the quiet area as soon as they hear staff reading. Babies have a 'book bag' as soon as they start at the nursery. Staff also hold 'story weeks' throughout the year. They record videos of themselves reading bedtime stories for parents to share with their children at bedtime. This early interest and enthusiasm for books helps to develop babies' listening skills and introduces them to new sounds and words.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give babies more time and opportunities to practise their emerging communication and language skills
• provide more opportunities for babies to practise new skills, to help them develop confidence and competence in their physical abilities.