Choochoos Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle well and develop strong bonds with staff. Staff have a strong key-person approach and offer children warm and nurturing relationships. For example, babies enjoy cuddles from staff if they are feeling tired or have just woken up. Older children show excitement to see their key person as they arrive at nursery. Children form good friendships with each other and learn to show compassion for their friends. For example, they show concern for their friend who has fallen over and ask them about how they are feeling. Children's behaviour is very good, and they need very little intervention from staff.

Staff support children well to have a keen interest in learning and help them to take an active part in building their skills. For example, children make their own dough and test out how much of each ingredient to add. Children eagerly take up the challenge. They skilfully use scissors to cut pieces of herbs to add to the mixture and explore the different scents. Children are fully absorbed in the process and curious of the outcome. As a result, children gain positive attitudes to learning.

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

• The management team has a clear vision and the curriculum intent is clearly implemented throughout the nursery. For example, staff support children very well to be independent. Younger children are supported to stand and wash their hands at the sink and get involved in laying the table for lunch. Older children enjoy getting water for themselves to add to their play. As a result, children benefit from consistent teaching to support them to make good progress in their learning.
• Children receive good opportunities to develop their physical skills. For example, staff work hard to enable children to benefit from free flow into the garden. Children comment that they like to run fast and use the digging area. Children challenge themselves walking along the wobbly bridge, with support from an adult where needed. Consequently, children are confident in their physical skills, which prepares them well for their eventual move to school.
• Staff place a strong focus on children's communication and language development. Children have the opportunity to hear a range of vocabulary as they play to help extend their language. For example, staff working with babies talk to children about the ice that is melting in the tray. Older children learn about a variety of different words to describe dough, such as 'squashy', 'slimy' and 'stodgy'. Children use their good communication and language skills throughout their play and learning. However, at times, staff do not fully extend children's learning even further to help the most-able children make even more progress.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are full of praise for the staff at nursery. They find staff approachable and comment that their children have good relationships with staff. Parents receive good information about their children's progress. They have been able to see the progress their children have made since starting.
• Managers have recently led the change of approach on how they support children's learning. For instance, they have moved away from paper-based planning and rely on their knowledge of individual children to teach and extend children's learning in the moment. The management team uses supervision meetings well to help staff hone their skills and gain confidence in their abilities.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive strong support to meet their needs. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has clear support plans for all children and strong links with external professionals. The staff team works well together to implement a consistent approach. As a result, children with SEND make good progress from their individual starting points.
• Children enjoy spending time at nursery and have access to a range of different learning opportunities. For example, older children show a keen interest in worms and bugs. They dig them up and help to build a habitat for them to live in. Babies explore the sand and water in the garden and learn about how to use animal puppets inside. However, some of the transitions between inside and outside do not always fully support the needs of the babies and, at times, they become unsettled.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the support for the most-able children to ensure that their learning is extended to the highest level to help them make even more progress
• develop further the transitions for the youngest children to ensure that children continue to receive high-quality care throughout the day.