Cherry Field Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive comfort and reassurance from staff, who are gentle and kind in their approach. This helps children to learn to develop strong attachments to their key person and feel secure. Babies regularly hear staff singing songs, and staff engage babies' interest in looking at books and listening to stories. This supports their early communication and language development effectively. Children receive well-deserved praise for their efforts and celebrate these achievements as a whole group. For example, following tidy-up time, children who were the most helpful get to wear one of the crowns. This helps support children's sense of achievement and pride in their accomplishments.

Children enjoy short circle times, where they sit with their key person in small groups. They listen to short stories and sing favourite rhymes. For example, they become fully animated as they join in the actions and readily jump up and hop like a bunny. This supports children's speaking skills while enhancing their physical development. Pre-school children enjoy learning new games and listen intently as staff explain the rules. Children take turns in holding a card to their forehead and asking questions to the others to try and guess what is on their card. This encourages the children to make connections between their thoughts and what they see and to think critically. Leaders ensure that the curriculum is ambitious for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or learning more than one language. They assess how each child learns best and how they can support this effectively.

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

• Although there have been changes in leadership, this has been managed successfully. Leaders maintain effective communication with the staffing team. This helps to ensure that staff receive support, including for their well-being and professional development.
• Leaders regularly assess staff's practice, such as through observing their interactions with children. They use the information they gather to inform individual review meetings to guide further training and development opportunities. This supports staff to understand how to make changes to their practice to further improve their planning for experiences for children.
• Leaders have a secure understanding of their plan for children's learning and what they know children need to learn next. There are clear intentions for a sequenced curriculum. However, staff do not always implement these consistently to make sure that during their interactions with children, they are encompassing teaching the intended skills. This means that children do not always practise these skills regularly to further embed them.
• Staff know the children well and understand their unique care and learning needs. They have a secure knowledge of children in their key group. They plan activities and experiences that they base on what children need to learn next, incorporating their interests. This enables children to remain engaged in their play and learning.
• Children begin to learn to be independent. For example, they help each other to tidy away toys. However, staff do not always support or role model to children the importance of good hygiene and doing tasks themselves. This does not help children to develop a fully secure understanding of good health and extend their independence skills.
• There are clear and effective partnerships with parents, which staff fully foster. Parents remain up to date with their children's developmental progress and the teaching that will be taking place for their child. Parents comment about the good development in their children's personal skills and levels of confidence. They report about the effective support for children in understanding similarities and differences.
• Leaders and staff adhere to clear procedures when they need to liaise with other professionals and those from other settings children also attend. This enables them to gain and share information. This aids in staff's understanding of children's learning and influences their planning for children's individual needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's understanding of the importance of consistent high-quality interactions with children to further encompass the intentions for the curriculum
• strengthen opportunities for children to learn about and follow good hygiene practice to further improve their self-care and independence skills consistently.