Chestnut@Earlham Grove

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders of this nursery have a clear vision for the curriculum. They provide a strong focus on supporting children's early communication and language, as well as developing their passion for books. Staff display this passion by providing a range of books for children to access, indoors and outside, and by sharing favourite stories with enthusiasm. Leaders support staff to understand the learning intent from everything they do with children to ensure that children make progress.

Staff get to know children quickly when they start at the nursery. They plan activities and opportunities for them to achieve their next steps in learning. Staff have high expectations of all children's progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), as they move through the nursery.

Children's behaviour is good. Staff remind them to look out for their friends when they are engaging in physical activities such as trying to swing hoops around their waists and enjoying whizzing around the garden on the range of wheeled toys. This supports children to be aware of the risks and to consider the impact they have on others.

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

• Staff develop children's literacy skills from an early age. Children have access to a wide range of books, which even the youngest children will sit and read independently. Pre-school children love to practise their writing skills in the nursery garden. Children love to sit and listen to stories as staff read stories with enthusiasm and excitement. They move closer to the book as the story goes on so that they can see all the pictures in the book. This supports children to develop positive attitudes towards themselves as readers and writers before they start at school.
• Staff incorporate early mathematics into the daily routines. Children have opportunities to practise their counting skills, as well as to become confident with their colours and shapes. Staff ask questions to find out what children already know. However, at times, they ask too many closed questions which do not encourage children to think about their answers beyond a single word. This does not support children to speak in longer sentences or to take time to fully consider what they want to say.
• Staff support children's physical development throughout the day. Children have the chance to practise a range of skills in the nursery garden every day. For example, they develop their fine motor skills by using tools to tighten nuts and bolts in a tray. Children are good at solving problems. For example, when children get their bicycle stuck in a corner, they persevere to manage a three-point turn, eventually releasing it so they can move freely back on their journey.
• Overall, staff respond well to children's early talking. They encourage children to engage in a two-way flow of conversation. Staff provide space for children who need to sleep after lunch. However, they do not always organise this space to allow children who do not wish to sleep to play without interrupting children who are sleeping.
• Parents are happy with the care and education provided at the nursery. They notice the things their child can do because they attend, particularly with their speech and vocabulary. Parents comment that they value the gradual transition as their children move through the nursery. They feel staff and leaders are approachable and know who their child's key person is and have regular contact with them.
• Leaders are closely involved in the running of the nursery. Staff report they are happy working in the nursery. They benefit from a range of training and leaders provide opportunities for them to meet socially. Leaders make sure that supervision meetings take place every three months. They encourage staff to talk about what is happening in their lives and their future hopes and aspirations.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use more effective questions to allow children time to think about their answers and not feel rushed in replying
• review children's sleep arrangements to ensure that there is space for children who are not sleeping to continue playing and learning.