Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the nursery. They settle quickly and are comfortable in their relationships with staff. Children respond to the positive environment and good staff role models. They are kind and helpful. Older children readily help to clear away after lunch and say 'thank you' as they hand their bowls to the cook. Children are becoming increasingly independent. They enjoy choosing resources inside and staff support them in their chosen play. For instance, young children choose a farm book and giggle as they make animal noises and use finger puppets to sing a song about ducks.

Children are confident and secure. They enjoy daily opportunities to mix with children and staff in each room and are not unduly upset when they move up to the next room. Children show a good understanding of safety. Older children talk about the smaller toys that the younger ones cannot yet play with. Staff are sensitive to the possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. During these times, they offered activity packs for parents to use at home with their children. Staff understand that some children have not had opportunities to interact with others. They offer additional support to children to aid them in sharing, working together and developing social skills.

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

• Managers know children well and understand their needs. They make effective use of any additional funding to offer children play opportunities that are tailored to their developmental needs. Managers monitor children's progress and take prompt action to ensure that no child falls behind in their learning.
• Staff report that they feel valued and supported. Managers support staff to complete further training to develop their practice. Managers and staff have high expectations. They ensure that the nursery's curriculum is challenging and is successful in promoting children's development.
• Staff are clear about what children need to learn next and offer them opportunities to build on their learning. For example, when children visit a park, they show an interest in the ducklings, and staff talk with them about the life cycle of ducks. Children build on this knowledge as they create pictures of ducks, frogs and rabbits. They talk about the similarities in the life cycles and develop their creativity as they choose craft materials to decorate their pictures.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to make sure that they understand children's needs and know how best to support them.
• Staff listen carefully to what children are saying, which helps to build children's confidence and communication. For example, children use their good language skills to describe the role-play traffic lights. They go on to organise a game with the lights and readily explain this to other children.
• Children participate in many opportunities that aid the development of their physical skills. For example, children become absorbed in their yoga sessions. They balance, stretch and learn how to coordinate their movements.
• Staff interact well with children, which maintains their interest and helps to build on their early communication skills. For example, younger children clap as they join in with an action song. They use simple sign language and enjoy holding toy turtles as they sing about these.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and feel that staff work hard to understand each child. Parents report that staff communicate well with them. Staff support parents in building on their children's learning. For example, they provide packs that support children's early reading.
• Children enjoy playing in the outdoor area. For instance, they search for worms and insects. However, staff do not always offer as many opportunities to fully build on the development of children who prefer to play and learn in an outdoor environment.
• Staff generally offer children support in developing their knowledge of health and hygiene procedures. For example, children participate in an activity to look at the importance of washing their hands thoroughly. However, staff do not always follow the nursery's procedures to help children carry out and understand these practices on a daily basis. This does not promote children's knowledge to the optimum.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the use of the outdoor areas to offer children who prefer to learn outside further play and learning opportunities
• support staff to understand and follow the nursery's agreed approaches to promoting children's understanding of healthy practices and supporting children to carry these out consistently.