Childsplay Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children learn well. They benefit from a broad curriculum which captures their interest. Babies and children develop the skills and knowledge they need to move confidently through the rooms in the nursery and on to school. Children benefit from many different outings and real-life experiences. For example, they go on outings to the local supermarket to have a go at operating a self-service checkout. This helps to widen their understanding of the uses of everyday technology.

Children learn well from the positive example set by the cheerful and nurturing staff. They learn to talk about and express their different emotions and consider the needs of others. Babies show that they feel safe and secure when approaching visitors, while older children confidently start conversations about topics that interest them. Children's behaviour is consistently good. From a young age, they show that they understand and follow the boundaries and rules. For example, during activities in the woodland area, older children remind each other how to carry tools safely and toddlers know to wait their turn before jumping down the steps.

Special days in children's lives are celebrated by the staff. This highly inclusive approach helps all children and their families to feel valued and welcome. Children, including children who speak English as an additional language (EAL), build an extremely positive view of their own uniqueness and that of others.

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

• Staff engage children in conversation, asking open-ended questions to encourage them to express themselves with increasing detail. They make use of tools, such as a translation pen, to help model the many different languages spoken by the children. This helps all children, including children who speak EAL, to extend their vocabulary and become confident communicators.
• There are regular opportunities for children to manage tasks for themselves. For example, older children are encouraged to set the table at mealtimes, serve their food and clear their plates. Staff offer plenty of praise. This motivates children to initiate further responsibilities for themselves, such as sweeping the floor and stacking the chairs.
• Staff create an array of successful strategies to help parents to feel involved in their children's care and learning. For example, parents embrace the use of the nursery's lending library. They explain how this encourages their children's enjoyment of books and reading at home. Staff offer unwavering support to children and their families in times of crisis. This helps to ensure that children continue to attend the nursery and benefit from excellent levels of care and emotional security.
• The nursery is extremely inclusive, and staff know the children's backgrounds in detail. Children's home languages and cultures are celebrated through an array of meaningful activities. For example, children and their parents delight in sharing many aspects of their cultural heritage, including recipes, stories and traditional clothes. These rich, shared experiences help to foster children's knowledge of similarities and differences exceptionally well.
• Managers and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, they increase staff ratios, create quieter spaces for learning and purchase new resources to meet children's individual needs. Managers are proactive in contacting external agencies to access further support and additional funding. This helps to ensure that children with SEND make good progress from their starting points.
• Overall, staff sequence children's learning effectively, carefully adding to children's skills and knowledge. However, they do not build on all opportunities to incorporate mathematical language and concepts into children's play to further extend this area of their learning.
• Children are actively encouraged to learn about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. For example, older children meet a group of trainee dentists who visit the nursery and talk about the importance of toothbrushing. All children enjoy growing fresh vegetables in the nursery garden, with a strong focus on inspiring them to understand how to make healthy choices in their diet.
• Staff morale is high. Managers support staff effectively to ensure their well-being. Recognition for their hard work, such as the 'employee of the month' initiative, helps all staff to feel valued. Staff are encouraged to take up training opportunities to extend their teaching skills. For example, some staff use their training in the forest school approach to widen the curriculum for children's physical development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the curriculum for early mathematics to build on what children already know and can do and further enhance their mathematical knowledge.