Cheeky Monkees Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy to attend this nursery. Older children rush to hang up their coats and bags, in a hurry to meet their friends and for their play to begin. Babies put their arms out towards staff, who greet them with big smiles and friendly words. Staff know children very well and make sure that their favourite resources are available from the moment they arrive. This helps to make children feel safe and secure in their environment.

Staff provide children with a wide variety of well-resourced activities and talk about the overall learning children are getting from the activities provided. Staff organise their environments to offer children many opportunities to practise their developing physical skills. Babies smile in delight as staff encourage them to stand up. They actively bounce up and down as they recognise they are moving on their legs. Older children confidently negotiate different levels and surfaces. They climb and balance on different pieces of equipment and giggle as they jump into puddles.

Children behave very well. Older children willingly share resources and let other children into their existing play. They show respect for their environment as they happily wash the blocks they used for painting. When staff need to remind children of their behaviour, they do so in a calm and polite manner. They talk to children about their behaviour and how this behaviour impacts on the feelings of others.

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

• Staff know when they talk to children to speak slowly and clearly. They give children time to think and respond to what has been said. Babies show they are learning the rules of communication as they sit with staff and wait for staff to respond to their babbling. This encourages babies to make further sounds to enable their conversations to continue.
• Parents and grandparents are very complimentary about the service the nursery provides. They appreciate the use of online communications and the regular photos and updates they receive about their children's day in nursery. Parents are particularly appreciative of the flexibility the nursery offers, varying their child's attendance in line with parents' working hours.
• Staff teach children to keep themselves safe and to identify risks. For example, when children are outdoors, staff talk to children about how the rain has made the decking slippery. They remind children to walk and not to run in these areas.
• The manager and staff talk of the good partnerships they have built with children's feeder schools. They invite teachers into the nursery to meet the children and to gain information about children's development. This help children to feel secure as they move on to the next phase of their learning.
• The manager and staff work together to develop the nursery. For example, they explain the recent changes which have been made to the outdoor provision for babies. They talk about working with the local community to build large equipment to further develop children's physical skills and imaginations.
• Staff provide children with a wide variety of opportunities to go out and about into the local and wider communities. For example, children write their own shopping lists and go to the local shops where they choose and pay for their own items. Staff organise trips to places of interest using the local bus service.
• Staff are very well supported by the manager. They speak highly of the manager's open-door policy and how she gives them time to discuss any issues in a safe and confidential environment. This develops staff's emotional well-being and confidence in carrying out their role to the best of their abilities.
• Staff encourage children's self-care and skills well. Older children know to wash their hands before eating and after using the toilet. Staff support younger children to 'rub, rub, rub' soap onto their hands to 'wash the germs away'.
• Some staff are innovative at introducing numbers and counting into children's play. For example, they draw dots on pegs and spoons and encourage children to accurately count the spots. However, this is not consistent for children of all ages throughout the nursery.
• Children are encouraged to develop their independence skills as they serve their own food at lunchtime. However, staff do not use these times to further develop children's understanding of keeping themselves healthy. For example, they do not discuss the different foods children are eating and how these can be beneficial to their health.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to be consistent in developing children's mathematical understanding, particularly children's understanding of numbers and counting
• review how daily routines, such as lunchtime, can be used to extend and enhance learning for all children.