City View Pre-School and Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and babies thrive in this caring nursery. They quickly settle as they arrive and are greeted by the enthusiastic and nurturing staff. Children's emotional well-being is supported through effective transition procedures and the positive relationships that they form with staff.

Children are generally well behaved and have a positive attitude to learning. Staff have high expectations for the children and use children's interests to create activities. Children love spending time in the nursery gardens. They have many opportunities to develop their physical skills and explore the natural world around them.

Babies are confident and at ease in the nursery. They babble and giggle as staff play peekaboo with them. The young children delight in exploring sensory play activities, such as sand, flour and bubbles. They show curiosity, and become immersed in their play as they learn to pop bubbles with their fingers or use their whole bodies to make unique marks in the flour. Older children take part in musical activities. They practise their listening and attention skills as they rhythmically beat their instruments and learn about playing at different volumes and speeds. Children receive an abundance of encouragement and praise, which helps to boost their self-esteem and confidence in their abilities.

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

• The manager is motivated and enthusiastic. She is very committed to ongoing improvements at the nursery. She strives to support staff and students to deliver an effective curriculum that enables the children to learn as much as they can. Regular self-evaluation and effective teamworking contribute to a well-organised provision. Staff have good opportunities for professional development. They access a wide range of training topics and support from the management team.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength of the nursery. Staff swiftly identify children who need additional support and work effectively with other professionals. They have very good knowledge of well-thought-out strategies, which are tailored to children's needs and preferences. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that these strategies are consistently used, which contributes to the good progress children make.
• Partnership working with parents is excellent. Parents say that they would not hesitate to recommend the nursery, and that they found a recent parent workshop on helping to prepare children for school extremely useful. They highly commend the staff team and their communication, and feel a part of their children's educational experience. Parents state that they receive regular feedback and information on how to support their child's learning at home.
• Staff interact positively with children and lead activities that engage children through their interests. Staff know children well and use this knowledge to support planning for their next steps in learning. However, staff do not always fully promote older children's thinking skills. For example, they do not always ask children challenging questions, or give them enough time to think when responding.
• Lunchtime is a sociable experience for children. They chat happily to each other and to the staff, who help them learn how to use a knife and fork. Children enjoy carrying their own plate to the table and cutting up their own food. They learn about healthy lifestyles and discuss the benefits of healthy food with their friends and staff at the dinner table.
• Staff give the development of children's language skills high priority, particularly when they are learning English as an additional language. Staff use every opportunity to model speaking and use new vocabulary. For instance, during a play dough activity, children learn new words, such as 'squishing', 'squashing' and 'pinching'. The introduction of Makaton supports all children with language and communication skills.
• Overall, children are engaged in their learning experiences. However, at times, staff do not recognise when younger children have lost interest during adult-led group activities. They do not organise group activities to their full potential to ensure that all children are able to engage in the learning opportunity.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further improve their interactions with children, to give children time to think and respond to questions, and to make the most of opportunities to extend learning through conversations
• provide further guidance for staff to manage group activities more effectively, to ensure that all children remain fully engaged in their learning.