Christopher Robin Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive and settle quickly at the nursery. Staff develop positive, nurturing relationships with the children to help them feel happy, safe and secure. They achieve this by spending time with children to get to know them well. This provides essential knowledge to staff, so they know what they need to teach, which is based on what children already know, remember and can do. This helps build on children's existing knowledge, so they make good progress in their learning and development.

Staff provide purposeful learning opportunities, so children have exposure to a balanced curriculum. For example, pre-school children test out their own predictions when engaging in colour-mixing activities. When their predictions are not correct, they do not give up and keep testing out their ideas. Children show positive attitudes to learning as staff encourage them to keep trying. This contributes towards building children's resilience and problem-solving skills. Staff teach children the physical skills that are required, so they can be independent. Children demonstrate confidence as they dress themselves, navigate obstacle courses, pour drinks and use knives to butter their own crackers. This helps children develop confidence in their own abilities.

Staff provide a variety of rich language experiences to build on children's growing range of vocabulary. For instance, staff sing and narrate words that are linked to babies' play. Babies' hear words such as 'crunch' and words from songs, such as 'Old McDonald had a farm'. They show curiosity and delight while exploring textures, crunching flakes in a tough tray, and they attempt to name the toy animals that they play with. This supports babies to make connections in their learning.

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

• The manager and the leaders have a clear strategic vision about what they want children to achieve during their time at the nursery. They accurately self-evaluate the effectiveness of the care and education that is provided to children and recognise areas of development to drive continuous improvement. They have identified the residual impact of COVID-19 on children's learning and development, specifically on children's language and fine motor skills. The manager works with her team to actively take steps to reduce this.
• All children have a key person who is responsible for overseeing their care, learning and development. Although staff implement activities well, not all staff have a full understanding of the intent of the activities they plan for children. Despite this, children demonstrate they are making good progress in their learning and development.
• Staff show a genuine interest in the children and praise their efforts when they give things a go. Staff work hard to help children achieve their personal potential. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive timely intervention to help them catch up. This prepares children well, so they are ready for their next stage of learning. Occasionally, some staff do not provide enough thinking time for children when they ask them questions. This means some children do not have the time to respond, prior to adults moving on to the next question.
• Staff use a variety of good teaching methods to help capture children's attention and help sustain their concentration. For example, staff use puppets and picture cards during a group time to engage children in discussions about the nursery rules. Children behave well as they listen to one another. They resolve their own minor altercations and respond to questions to demonstrate their understanding of why the rules are in place. This helps children learn about expected behaviours to keep everyone safe.
• Currently, staff are supporting children with all aspects of their behaviour and teaching them about feelings. This is part of the work staff are doing to develop children's understanding around feeling emotionally safe. Staff use stories, such as the 'Colour Monster', to engage children in discussions about how they feel. Staff teach children about aspects of personal safety. However, this does not include age-appropriate work around staying safe online.
• Staff support children as they show fascination while watching a bee among the flowers in the garden. Staff identify this spontaneous learning opportunity to ask children questions about what they know. Children respond confidently to friends in the small group that bees collect nectar to make honey. Staff show genuine interest and value children's contributions. Using recall helps children to securely embed their growing knowledge as well as learning about the wider world.
• Managers and staff build strong relationships with parents and encourage them to share information about their children. Effective partnership working supports children's learning and development well.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to have a more precise understanding of the intent behind activities
• provide children with the time they need to think and respond when staff ask them questions
• enhance the arrangements to help children learn about personal safety to equip them with age-appropriate knowledge about staying safe online.