Clarendon Nursery Dingle

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are incredibly happy and eager to learn at the homely nursery. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents do not routinely enter the nursery. This does not stop children from entering confidently. They are settled and secure. Children show high levels of self-esteem as they carry out self-care tasks. For example, they wash their hands, without being prompted, when they enter the nursery.

The environment provides a wealth of opportunities for children to explore, create and be curious. Children are highly motivated and thoroughly enjoy their play and learning. Their behaviour and attitudes to learning are excellent. Staff provide challenging activities that children eagerly take part in. For example, pre-school children have a go at writing their names and concentrate well as they sound out the letters of simple words.

Children benefit from lots of opportunities to develop their physical skills. They have access to a carefully considered outdoor play area and have daily access to the spacious community garden. Children enjoy creating potions in the mud kitchen with a variety of freshly cut flowers, mud and water. This helps to develop their awareness of the wider world and their creativity.

Parents praise the nursery's organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the national lockdown, staff would drop off new activities and fresh fruit and vegetables to all families each week. This helped to ensure the children had regular contact with their key workers. It also helped to support children's emotional well-being when they returned to nursery.

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

• Staff use what they know about children's interests and achievements to plan for their learning. Although staff know what they want children to learn and develop, they are not always responsive enough. This does not help children to acquire a deep body of knowledge, to help maximise their learning.
• Staff place a great significance on getting to know about children's individual needs. Right from the start, staff make home visits so that children feel secure. These visits, coupled with nurturing and caring support for all children, provide a strong basis for ongoing positive relationships for children and their parents.
• Staff support children's developing independence reasonably well. Children use the toilet and wash their hands without prompting. As children carry out these tasks, they demonstrate good levels of independence.
• Children learn about the importance of healthy lifestyles and good oral health. Staff work with parents to ensure children receive healthy lunches and snacks. Children grow and explore their own herbs and vegetables, allowing them to develop an awareness of the foods they eat. This further enhances their awareness of healthy eating.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress in their learning and development. They benefit from a curriculum that is adapted to meet their individual needs. This helps them to acquire lots of knowledge and skills.
• Staff model language and engage children well in conversations. They use the daily story time to introduce children to new books and texts. For example, during 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea', staff explain to children about the author and illustrator. Children are eager to guess what the story is about based on the title and cover of the book. Staff use effective questioning techniques which encourage children to predict what will happen next. Staff also act out words, such as 'tiny chair', to support children's learning and help them to widen their vocabulary.
• Managers are ambitious for every member of staff's progress and achievement. All staff access a range of training and development opportunities to help them to enhance the quality of the curriculum. For example, new staff have access to local authority training to develop their understanding of how to support children with SEND. Managers value the ideas that staff contribute to the nursery's 'focused improvement plans'. These measures have a positive impact on children's learning and progress.
• Children learn about the world. On daily outings to the community garden, they learn about road safety. Nursery families also contribute food items for a local food bank. This helps children learn to be kind and helpful to people in their wider community and helps to prepare children for life in modern Britain.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide a broad, balanced curriculum which helps all children in the nursery to develop the characteristics of effective learning.