Children's Place Heaton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive at the nursery and are greeted by warm and caring staff. Activities that children enjoy are provided, which helps them to settle quickly. Children's behaviour is good. They separate from their parents with ease and develop positive attitudes to their learning.

Children engage in a wide range of outdoor activities at the nursery. The well-organised environment promotes their natural curiosity and eagerness to learn. Children are confident and interact with staff, each other and visitors. Toddlers squeal with delight as they splash in the rain puddles and fill and empty jugs of water. Children enjoy listening to a story as they sit underneath the tree outside. Toddlers use brushes to paint the barks of the trees with coloured shaving foam. Older children increase their mathematical knowledge as they measure and weigh the ingredients to make play dough. They work together to mix and achieve the right consistency. Staff challenge children's thinking, which supports them to make predictions and problem-solve.

The nursery cook provides children with healthy meals and snacks based on a pescatarian menu. Fresh drinking water is easily accessible. Staff ensure that children's dietary requirements and allergies are fully catered for. For example, they provide red plates for children with allergies and green plates for other children. Oral health is well supported in the nursery. Staff talk to the children about looking after their teeth and provide activities to promote teeth cleaning based on initiatives such as 'Bright smiles' oral health.

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

• All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points in learning. They enjoy their time in this engaging, child-centred and language-rich environment. Children with SEND receive good support. The SEND coordinator and key person work closely with parents and other professionals.
• Staff create an inclusive environment that values children's individuality well. They promote children's home languages and involve parents in sharing key words. Children learn about cultural festivals. This supports children to understand what makes them unique, and learn to respect and value their wider diverse community.
• Key persons observe and assess children's development effectively. They use children's next steps in development to plan activities to engage children. As a result, staff are very clear about how to support children's individual learning and development needs.
• Partnership with parents is effective. Parents are regularly updated about their children's daily routines, including via an electronic app. Parents speak well of the care that their children receive. They talk positively about how their children have settled into the nursery. They comment on the daily handovers that inform them of what their children have done. They receive support to continue their children's learning at home.
• Managers use children's additional funding well. For example, following the COVID-19 pandemic, they provide parents with a clothes bank and a book library to ensure that children and families are valued during difficult times.
• The nursery curriculum focuses on teaching children the life skills that they will need to be well prepared for starting school. For example, children learn to take turns and they follow instructions as they tidy up their toys. Children learn to use a knife and fork, pour their drinks, and serve their food at snack and mealtimes.
• Staff promote children's communication and language development well. They sing nursery rhymes to the children as they play and during daily routines, such as nappy changing. Babies repeat familiar songs as they engage in activities. Staff use signs alongside words to support babies' and toddlers' early communication skills. They have in-depth conversations with older children about their experiences during the day. This helps to further develop children's language and confidence.
• The experienced manager and deputy support the team well. Staff report that their well-being is good, and they receive support in their role. The manager works with staff and observes them as they work with children. She meets with staff to discuss their role, agree professional development targets, and plan future training. However, the targets that are set for staff do not always fully support them in raising the quality of their teaching to the highest level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more targeted and precise support to each member of staff, helping them to enhance their teaching skills to the highest level.