Cherubs Ilkeston

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enthusiastically settle into the activities that staff have organised for them. They are encouraged to be independent from a young age. Babies are supported to feed themselves, and toddlers serve their own lunch and pour their own drinks. Staff have a strong knowledge of children's interests and abilities. They use this information to plan activities that support children's development. For example, children enjoy smelling lavender and develop the muscles in their hands as they poke the stems into dough.

Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning. They can freely choose what activities they want to take part in and they happily engage in these experiences. For example, children eagerly complete jigsaws and skilfully manipulate the pieces until they are the right way round to fit into the spaces. Staff encourage children to build relationships as they take turns during their play with their friends. Babies build close attachments to the staff, and play cooperatively alongside their peers.

Children have access to a secure outdoor area all day and staff plan time outside for babies to enjoy fresh air daily. Children have space to practise their physical skills. They are supported to ride tricycles and climb steps before sliding down the slide.

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

• Staff demonstrate that they understand how children learn through a well-organised curriculum. They monitor and assess children's progress to identify what they need to learn next. Staff use children's interests to plan activities. For example, children examine and talk about dinosaurs and make dinosaur foot prints in play dough. However, on occasions, staff do not provide sufficient challenge to maximise opportunities for all children to extend their learning.
• Staff model good language skills. They use lots of descriptive words to develop children's vocabulary. Younger children enjoy taking part in singing and joining in with action songs and staff introduce them to new vocabulary. However, staff do not always support children to use language themselves during some activities, to fully promote children's conversational skills.
• Children benefit from a vast range of experiences that promote their physical development. Staff encourage babies to reach for toys as they learn to crawl and walk. They arrange the environment with low-level furniture to encourage babies to pull themselves up to standing. Older children balance and climb outside and develop their hand muscles as staff encourage them to use mark-making resources to draw pictures of fruit from a favourite story.
• Children are developing their literacy skills from a young age. Toddlers seek out staff to read stories to them. They find their favourite books independently due to the layout of the room and concentrate for sustained periods of time. Babies snuggle up on their key person's knee. They point to pictures and engage in back-and-forth interactions.
• Staff set clear routines and boundaries so that children learn what is expected of them. This is reflected in children's positive attitudes to learning. For instance, they show pride in painting pictures of sunflowers. Children are kind and considerate of their peers. They learn to take turns with equipment. Staff talk to children about how they are feeling and support them in understanding a sense of what is right and wrong.
• Partnership with parents is strong. Children's development is shared with each individual parent, and staff provide them with ideas of play experiences that they can provide at home. For example, staff encourage children to choose books from the lending library, and have activity packs to loan to parents. This helps parents to continue their child's learning at home.
• Staff are aware of children's early experiences and provide opportunities children may not otherwise have access to. For example, staff provide children with access to the garden area in all weathers. Children learn about the world around them as they plant flowers and take care of them, such as filling their own watering cans to water the new plants.
• The staff team are passionate about the support they offer children and their families. They work well together to create a calm and efficiently run nursery, where children are happy and make good progress. Staff are supported well through supervision and new staff receive thorough inductions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the implementation of activities to ensure all children are fully engaged and their learning is challenged
• develop children's communication skills further, supporting and encouraging them to engage in high-quality interactions.