Children 1st Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are incredibly comfortable in the nursery. Staff welcome them with enthusiasm and sunny smiles. Very quickly children wash their hands and settle at the table for lunch. Staff engage in lively discussions with children, enquiring about their morning and how they are feeling. This helps children to feel settled, safe and secure. Staff show tremendous kindness to children, and this helps them to develop kindness and empathy for others. Children take the time to write notes and letters to their friends and teachers.

Children show high levels of respect for the rules. Staff act as excellent role models and offer praise for positive choices. This helps children to develop a secure understanding of the expectations. As a result, children are developing a sense of right and wrong, which leads to exemplary behaviour and positive attitudes to learning and play.

The nursery curriculum is highly ambitious. It has been well designed by leaders to give children a fully rounded early education. Children benefit from the carefully constructed design that offers the opportunity for children to make continuous progress across the seven areas of learning. This ensures that they are fully prepared for the transition to school.

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

• The curriculum is incredibly ambitious. Children follow a 'flight path', which is sequenced and breaks learning down into manageable chunks. Leaders are clear about what they want children to learn and have ensured that all teaching staff fully understand this.
• Leaders use assessments to track the excellent progress children make. There is a clear understanding by committed staff about what children need to learn during their time at the setting. Therefore, children are making consistent progress from their starting points and building on what they already know and can do.
• Support for disadvantaged children is effective. Children who speak English as an additional language make impressive progress and quickly become proficient in their use of English. This helps them to develop their social interactions and engage fully in learning.
• Older children show a deep understanding of numbers and counting. They skilfully add candles to birthday cakes, matching the quantity shown on birthday cards. At registration, children count the number of children. Staff ask them if today there are more or less children, and they help children estimate how many more 'children' are needed on the board to make the new bigger number.
• Children enjoy traditional songs and rhymes. They remember words and actions to favourite ring games and participate with enthusiasm. They are developing a love of traditional stories and appreciation of the language that books offer. Leaders choose books carefully, giving children access to rich print, images and repetition. This exposes children to rich and diverse vocabulary.
• Children show positive attitudes to healthy lifestyles. They are highly energetic and approach physical play with great enthusiasm. Outside, they run around and kick balls and balance on beams with skill. They balance risk with safety as they navigate the climbing structure with confidence.
• Older children access meaningful interactions that stretch and challenge their thinking. Staff ask open-ended questions and sustain their ideas and thinking. For example, when making potions, they discuss the different parts of the plants and are encouraged to design their own potions. Sometimes, these opportunities are not as strong for younger children, which means they are not as deeply engaged in their play and learning. That said, when adults do commit time to younger children, they show an increased level of engagement and sustained interest.
• Leaders are ambitious for children and strive to deliver the best outcomes. The manager is very open to feedback and recognises the benefit of continuous improvements. This means that they are constantly striving to improve the curriculum and quality of teaching. This leads to improved outcomes for children.
• Partnership working is excellent and supports children's progress. Leaders have developed a secure relationship with the school. They work together to support transitions for children. Parents speak highly of the setting and the progress children make. They feel well informed about their child's time at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop more meaningful interactions with the youngest children to ensure that they are able to access the same high-quality teaching as older children.