Cherubs Kimberley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at this welcoming nursery. Staff are sensitive, warm and responsive, which supports children to develop secure attachments with them. Older children are confident and smile and talk with visitors. As younger children get ready to sleep after lunch, staff provide a relaxing atmosphere with soft music to help them to settle. Children are gently rocked while staff quietly read them a story. They speak softly and cuddle children who need extra reassurance.

Children of all ages spend lots of time outdoors. Staff take babies outside to look at the clouds in the sky and listen to storybooks as they take in the fresh air. Older children run and climb on large apparatus and develop their physical skills as they play hide and seek, practising their counting skills as they do so. Older children are learning to develop good hand-to-eye coordination when they join a session with a sports coach. They take turns throwing a ball to knock a bean bag off a post, as the coach demonstrates and explains how to throw underarm and overarm. They are excited when they can successfully hit a ball with a bat.

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

• Managers have a clear vision about what they want children to learn and talk confidently about enabling children to learn communication and language skills, mathematics and developing increasing independence.
• Throughout the nursery, staff speak clearly with children and model language well. Younger children develop good communication skills as they sing songs with actions. They choose songs they know well and express their excitement as they join in the actions. Staff engage older children in conversations, as they ask questions to encourage them to extend their thinking. However, staff do not always encourage quieter children to join in discussions to help them develop their communication and language skills.
• Children of all ages are learning to appreciate and enjoy books. They spend time looking at books, both independently and with staff. Older children are developing the skills they need as they begin to learn to make marks. They eagerly search for their photo and draw a picture of their face. They look for their name among a pile of cards as they begin to recognise letters.
• Children learn about their emotions. They sing songs linked to emotions, and staff use signs for feelings, such as happy and sad. When staff ask children what makes them happy, they say their friends make them happy. Staff extend the learning started in these activities as they engage children in a yoga session later in the day, and children talk with staff about how the yoga poses make them feel.
• Children are learning to become independent. They serve themselves at lunchtime with support from staff if they need it. Young children wipe their faces with a cloth after lunch. Older children help each other. They help their friends to do their coat zippers and push each other on tricycles as they enjoy physical activity outside.
• Staff support children to celebrate differences and learn about what makes them unique. They sit together to make faces out of play dough and talk positively about everyone being different. Children have the opportunity to celebrate different cultures. For example, they taste festive dishes for Chinese New Year.
• Children generally behave well and follow daily routines. The majority of children are engaged in their learning. However, some children run around inside and spend time wandering without being meaningfully engaged. This impacts their learning.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff organise stay-and-play sessions for families to take part in, while effective communication is supported through newsletters and parents' evenings. Parents say their children come home from nursery knowing new things, such as being able to recognise a triangle. The online app provides families with fresh ideas about how they can continue to support their children's learning at home.
• Staff say that they feel well supported by managers. They have regular supervision sessions and know what to do to continually develop their practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• implement strategies to support all children to engage in activities
• enhance staff interactions with quieter children to ensure they are engaged in discussions and supported to develop their speaking skills.