Clarence House Godmanchester Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed by friendly staff. Staff manage transitions well, and children settle in quickly to explore a wide range of fun and engaging sensory activities and resources, including rice, paint, dough, water and sand. Children are confident to independently choose and access the activities they want to play with. Staff are always on hand to encourage and support them. Staff are respectful with children during their personal care routines. They prepare children, asking for their consent, and talk to them throughout the process to reassure and comfort them. Children are learning to manage their own personal care needs and are proud of themselves when they manage this. Staff tune in to individual children's communication methods, offering hugs and comfort as needed.

Staff carry out robust risk assessments and safety checks throughout the day to keep children safe. Children are trusted to explore risk for themselves. The individual needs of all children, including babies, are well met. They are provided with healthy meals and snacks. Routines are flexibly organised to ensure that children can sleep and rest. Staff assess and support children effectively to make progress in their development. Children have plenty of space to practise their developing physical skills. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds make good progress in their communication and language development.

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

• Staff consistently follow health and safety procedures to keep children safe. They ensure gates and doors are locked and frequently check that there are enough resources, such as paper towels, for children to use. Hygiene is a key priority, and staff support children to keep clean and independently wash their hands.
• Children are encouraged to independently put on their coats and shoes and prepare their own snack. Staff are very aware of children's emotional needs, and there is a key-person system in place that helps babies and young children to develop strong attachments to their main caregiver. When there are concerns about children's emotional well-being, staff put effective strategies in place to manage these.
• There is a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language. Staff provide a wide range of books, including books for parents to take home to read. Staff have also developed dedicated reading areas and spend time reading stories in interesting and fun ways. Staff use opportunities within the routine to communicate and talk to children. For example, at snack time, children learn the names of different fruits.
• Staff provide a wide range of opportunities for children to practise their developing physical skills. Outside, children can use the large climbing equipment or bicycles. Inside, they can access soft play and tunnels to explore different ways of moving. Children also practise using their fine muscle skills when preparing fruit kebabs for snack or engaging in painting and mark making.
• Staff know their key children very well and prepare exciting and engaging sensory activities to support their learning. Staff busily ensure that learning opportunities are fresh and interesting throughout the day, and children become fully immersed in exploring these. Staff are proactive in supporting children's learning. However, high-quality teaching is not yet consistently embedded in practice. This means that children do not always get opportunities to learn new vocabulary and different concepts.
• There are good relationships with parents, and staff share information to meet children's needs. Parents comment on how happy their children are in the setting and the close relationship they have with their key person. Parents appreciate the communication they receive about their child's learning. Staff actively seek out information from parents to support children who speak English as an additional language. The setting has developed partnerships with other professionals and settings to support children's development.
• Leaders have a firm grasp of the strengths and areas for development for their setting. They have plans in place to further develop teaching across the setting, as well as developing the garden. Leaders are supportive of staff well-being and are positive role models for staff. Throughout regular supervisions, staff are encouraged to access the training they need to develop their skills and knowledge.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to develop their teaching skills so that babies and young children have consistent access to high-quality learning opportunities.