Cherry Blossom Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff successfully create a very welcoming environment where children settle happily. Children respond well to the warm, caring interactions of staff. They benefit from effective and consistent support to promote their communication and language. Staff ensure that children in all rooms hear a lot of words, to help them to understand and explore language. Babies confidently practise new words. Older children rapidly build up their vocabularies and excitedly share their news, opinions and ideas.

Children develop good social skills and learn to behave well. Staff praise children's efforts and achievements, promoting their self-esteem and developing their confidence to try new things. Children make choices and decisions as they play, helping them to become independent learners.

Staff use their thorough knowledge and understanding of children's learning needs to plan and deliver an ambitious curriculum. For example, staff build on children's interest in animals and minibeasts by planning activities that promote their language, mathematical and physical skills. Children also enjoy expressing their creative ideas. Staff teach children techniques and provide a range of art materials. They give children the time and space they need to explore, experiment and create unique pieces of art.

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

• The leadership and management of the nursery is strong. The provider has a clear aim to continually enhance the quality of the provision. She recognises the many areas of strength, while also being able to identify where improvement is needed. For example, she is aware that some areas of the indoor learning environment are not well presented and that cleaning routines are not always carried out well. However, a refurbishment is scheduled to address these issues, as part of more-significant changes that are planned for the very near future. The manager ensures that staff follow appropriate hygiene arrangements when serving food and changing nappies.
• Effective key-person arrangements help to ensure that each child's personality, care and learning needs are well known by those who care for them. Children form strong and trusting bonds with their key person and other familiar staff. The care and attention given to meeting children's individual needs are particularly beneficial for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work well with parents to put specific plans in place. These are understood and consistently implemented. Staff also identify when children would benefit from additional support and, in partnership with parents, make referrals to the relevant professionals.
• Activity planning is very effective overall. Staff provide a range of exciting, well-thought-out experiences that children thoroughly enjoy. They teach children about a range of cultural festivals and beliefs. They also make the most of seasonal events, such as falling leaves in Autumn, to capture children's interest. While the yearly schedule of focused topics works well for the older children, it is less relevant for the youngest children. Staff working with the babies skilfully manage to adapt activities within the themes. However, they are sometimes restricted by trying to include specific subjects, such as fireworks, which are beyond the understanding of this age group.
• The quality of teaching and interaction is high throughout the nursery. Staff understand how to build on what children know and enjoy. For example, as children show an interest in building with magnetic shapes, staff seize the opportunity to discuss colour, size and shape. They also recognise when children would benefit from new ideas, such as considering adding a second floor. The enthusiastic interaction of staff ignites children's curiosity and extends their learning.
• Although staff share a lot of useful information with parents each day, this generally relates to the activities that their child has taken part in and their emotional well-being. Staff have recently changed the way in which they set learning goals for each child. The new systems mean that this information is no longer shared as effectively with parents. This does not fully support parents to extend children's learning at home. However, overall, partnerships with parents are positive. Children benefit from observing the very friendly interactions between their parents and staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan activities that are tailored more precisely to reflect the interests and levels of understanding of the youngest children
• review and enhance information-sharing with parents to include specific detail about their child's progress and planned next steps in learning.