Children 1st @ Plum Tree

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and parents are warmly welcomed when they arrive at the nursery. There are effective handover practices, and babies and children settle quickly, ready for their day. Children are happy and show excitement about the activities that are available. They soon become busy in their play. Children show they feel safe and secure. They have warm, nurturing relationships with their key person. Children are able to share and take turns extremely well. For instance, children pass the flour to one another as they make play dough, and listen to each other at group time. Older children take ownership of their room as they set the table for lunch and help organise some of the activities. They thrive on the responsibility to have a monitor job.

Activities are carefully planned, based on individual children's interests and their learning needs. Babies are eager to explore and they develop a real thirst for learning. Staff provide excellent opportunities to support their development. Babies develop their large-muscle skills. For example, they competently climb steps and manoeuvre around furniture. Babies enjoy songs, rhymes and stories to help enhance their communication and language. Children throughout the nursery show a love of books and stories. Babies select books that are accessible to them throughout their thoughtfully designed environment. Some staff are dynamic storytellers and build anticipation when they read stories with children. This encourages children to become excited, highly engaged, and to contribute their own ideas.

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

• The enthusiastic and experienced pre-school room leader is a positive role model for his team. Staff have benefited from opportunities to share good practice. The quality of teaching in this age group is consistently good. Leaders have a good overview of the strengths and areas that staff need to develop. However, within the toddler room, training and development opportunities are in the early stages of being implemented. This means that there are some inconsistencies of teaching practice.
• Children enjoy a well-designed curriculum. However, during transition times, such as mealtimes and coming inside from outdoor play, staff deployment is not consistently well organised. This means that there are a few occasions when children are not involved in purposeful play as they are spending time waiting for others to finish.
• Staff are calm and patient with the children. They allow time for children to learn and develop new skills. 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.
• Leaders and staff place a strong focus on supporting children's personal, social and emotional development along with their communication and language skills. They recognise that after the COVID-19 pandemic, some children need support to close gaps in these aspects of their learning. For example, staff in the baby room ensure that they emphasise their mouth movement and make eye contact when they communicate with babies. Staff support children emotionally, for example, when they first start and as they move rooms within the nursery.
• Leaders and the staff team communicate well with parents. They have started a lending library to encourage children to enjoy stories at home. Staff provide a detailed handover when parents collect their children. This helps to promote continuity of care.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well supported. Leaders and staff are highly proactive in recognising concerns and supporting children. Staff work closely as a team to create individualised support plans for children. They also work with families and other professionals to build targets and support. As a result, children make good progress across all areas of learning.
• Staff promote respect for cultural diversity and similarities and differences through displays and activities. For example, parents are invited into the setting to share information about their culture, and children enjoy cultural celebrations together. This gives children a sense of belonging.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed professional development, for staff in the toddler room, to build consistency in their quality of teaching
• help staff to organise some parts of the daily routine to ensure that children are engaged in purposeful play at all times.