Coccinelle Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a welcoming greeting by friendly staff at the entrance door before they take them gently into the playrooms. Most children settle quickly and go to their key person for warm, reassuring hugs and comfort when they need to. Children show confidence in social situations. For example, they approach the inspector and have short conversations with her about their learning. This demonstrates that children feel a sense of belonging and build positively on their personal development.

The managers and staff have an ambitious curriculum in place to support children's learning. The special educational needs coordinator works effectively in partnership with outside agencies and parents to ensure that all children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. This has a positive impact on the quality of education that all children receive.

Children behave well. The interactions between staff and children are warm and positive. Children share resources and encourage others to play with them. Staff set clear expectations. This impacts positively on children's behaviour.

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

• The provider values her staff and has put systems in place to support their good health and well-being. However, supervision sessions do not always focus enough on staff's continuous improvement. Children's learning outcomes could be even better with more time set aside for staff to continuously improve their knowledge.
• The management team works well to build friendly relationships with parents. Regular coffee mornings take place. However, the nursery does not set aside regular times to meet with parents to fully discuss their children's individual progress. This does not help all parents to understand how to fully support their children at home.
• Staff know children well and provide babies and young children with peaceful areas for daytime sleeping. Children wake up naturally from their naps. In addition, the chef has an in-depth knowledge of children's allergies and dietary requirements. The nursery provides a wide range of tasty and nutritious snacks and meals. This benefits children's health and physical development.
• Staff promote independence. They support children to learn how to do things for themselves. For example, young babies feed themselves with finger foods, while older babies are learning to eat with spoons. Older children regularly cut their own fruit and manage their own personal care. Staff give them lots of praise to build their self-esteem and confidence as they manage these tasks. Children behave very well.
• Staff encourage children to develop a love of singing and rhyming. Staff in each room spend time engaging children in experiences which help them to develop an awareness of rhyme and rhythm. Staff ensure that children know a range of nursery rhymes. This has a positive impact on children's quality of education.
• The organisation of the outdoor area is well laid out and supports children's age and stage of development. With the assistance of encouraging staff, the children joyfully extend their interests outside. Opportunities and resources are plentiful, and some children freely paint, use chalk, ride bicycles and build with natural resources. Other children enjoy sensory opportunities in the sand and water trays. This promotes children's small- and large-muscle skills.
• Children engage in enjoyable learning experiences. They are learning how to make play dough. They pause, think and reflect on what to do to achieve soft and stretchy play dough. This has a good impact on children's critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents feel that staff are approachable and friendly. They value the support they receive from the manager and their children's key persons. This has a positive impact on children's personal development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the use of supervision sessions to identify any training, and support staff to raise their practice to the highest possible level
• work even more closely in partnership with parents to ensure that they are kept informed of and involved in their children's learning at home.