Cherubs Sutton In Ashfield

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children run to staff with open arms as they arrive at the nursery ready for their welcome cuddle. They love coming to the nursery and are enthusiastic, inquisitive and highly motivated to learn. They show that they feel safe and secure with the familiar staff, who display genuine affection. Children demonstrate excellent small-muscle skills, such as when they practise putting on the school uniforms and fasten the buttons with precision. Children throughout the nursery show a love of books. Babies enjoy exploring the different textures in picture books. Toddlers learn how to re-enact stories using puppets, and pre-school children explore the illustrations and narratives of books. This helps children to increase the range of vocabulary they use.

Babies are eager to explore and they develop a real thirst for learning. Staff provide excellent opportunities to support their development. Babies roll balls over ramps and through tunnels, curiously rushing to see where they have gone. Babies develop their large-muscle skills. For example, they paint the fence in the garden, using water and brushes. They competently climb steps and manoeuvre around furniture. Babies enjoy songs, rhymes and stories to help enhance their communication and language. Children have high levels of self-control and independence. They are eager to take part in tasks, such as serving their own meals and putting their plates away. Babies feed themselves with spoons, and older children use knives and forks. They have a healthy and nutritious diet and good appetites.

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

• Staff have a shared understanding and set clear expectations for children's behaviour. However, sometimes, they do not teach children the consequences of their actions or help children to understand why certain behaviours are necessary. For example, children are reminded to use walking feet, not to swing on furniture and to wait at the top of the slide. However, staff do not explain to children why this is necessary. This means that children do not routinely learn how to assess situations for themselves. Staff are positive role models in developing children's social skills. They encourage children to work together in groups and they confidently share, take turns and cooperate together.
• Staff deliver a highly motivating curriculum that engages children's interest and supports them to make good progress in their learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are prepared for their next stage in learning, including the move to school. However, occasionally, staff's interactions with children are not precisely focused on what they need to learn next, such as by developing their thinking or expanding their knowledge.
• The management team supported children and their families when they were not able to attend the nursery during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. For example, they provided parent packs with ideas that they could use at home with their children, and staff made videos which they shared online for the children to watch. Staff's relationships with parents continue to be very strong. Staff find ways to utilise families' knowledge and expertise to help broaden children's experiences. For example, parents visit to talk to children about their job role, and children take part in gardening and growing activities. In addition, children write letters to children in other nurseries owned by the provider to develop relationships with others beyond their community.
• The senior management team is highly ambitious about providing quality care and education for all children. They care deeply about the children and the staff. Staff report high levels of well-being and feel very well supported. They are encouraged to share their views and ideas. As a result, the provision is continually improving to ensure the very best outcomes for children.
• Supervision and training arrangements to monitor staff practice are effective. Staff benefit from good training opportunities and mentoring to help them to extend and develop their skills. Trainees in the nursery gain a particularly good experience as they observe well-qualified staff. They are given time to reflect on what they see and implement their own high-quality activities with guidance. The management team has a good overview of the strengths and areas that staff need to develop. This helps to target staff's professional development and continually improve the quality of their teaching.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's skills further so that they consistently help children to understand how to manage their own behaviours and learn to judge risks for themselves
• enhance staff's skills and knowledge so that they can use their interactions to further introduce challenge and extend the knowledge of the toddlers and pre-school children across the curriculum.