Colehill Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happily and are warmly welcomed by staff. They feel safe and secure and have strong relationships with staff who are kind, caring and nurturing. Children are confident and imaginative and thoroughly enjoy role play activities where they share their ideas with friends. They work together to solve problems. For example, children discuss how to lift and fit a pushchair into the book area to read their 'baby' a story. They make marks with a variety of tools. Children are creative and enjoy singing, making music and crafts.

Children develop a love of reading. Staff read stories with enthusiasm and children join in with excitement. As well as planned storytelling, children ask staff to read to them, share books with their friends and look at them independently. As a result of this and good-quality staff interactions, children use vocabulary well. For example, children say they need to clean the table after eating in the mud kitchen as it is their 'responsibility'.

Children behave well, share resources and take turns. When disagreements do occur, staff manage this quickly and appropriately, encouraging children to consider each other's feelings. Staff praise children effectively. As a result, children show pride in their achievements and have high self-esteem. They have a can-do attitude and good levels of concentration.

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

• The curriculum is well planned, structured and sequenced. Staff understand children's current level of development and what to do to help them develop further. As a result, children who need additional support are identified quickly and effective interventions are implemented. Staff work closely with other agencies and parents to support children with special educational needs.
• Leaders and managers carefully allocate additional funding to support the most disadvantaged children. This includes arranging sessions with external experts in sports coaching and singing. Staff have high expectations and all children make progress.
• The manager regularly reflects on practice and evaluates the setting to ensure that continuous improvements benefit children's learning. Children's interests are well understood and nurtured by staff, and children's emerging interests are used to guide improvements, such as an extended planting area.
• The manager cares about staff well-being, and staff say that they feel supported in their roles. They have high morale and work effectively as a team. As a result, they are good role models. Staff have regular supervisions to develop their practice and there are many opportunities for them to extend their professional development. The key-person system is well organised to ensure that children build strong bonds and have targeted individual support for their next steps.
• Children benefit from extensive time spent outdoors, in all weathers. They get plenty of fresh air and are physically active. They ably climb, balance, run and jump. Children learn how to keep themselves healthy. They make 'vegetable smoothies' in the role play area, talking to each other about what foods are healthy. Children learn how about oral health, help themselves to water and are provided with nutritious snacks.
• Children benefit from a broad curriculum to support their development and good teaching from staff. However, the curriculum for mathematics requires refinement to fully meet children's learning intentions.
• Staff engage in good-quality conversations with children. They encourage children to share their ideas and build their vocabulary through storytelling, role play and games. However, opportunities for some children to share and celebrate the languages they speak at home with staff and other children are limited.
• Parents recommend the setting and comment that their children settle well and are happy to attend. Regular information is shared about children's progress through an online application. Children are well prepared for their next stage in education and benefit from the setting's close links with the primary school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop their skills and knowledge to further support children's mathematical development
• extend opportunities for children to learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others.