Copper Beech Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm, nurturing environment for children and show genuine care for their well-being. They provide support to families and have started to welcome parents back into nursery, since the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have eased. This has had a positive impact on communication with parents and promotes consistency for children. Children are enthusiastic to come into nursery and show that they feel happy and safe with staff. They are keen to explore their surroundings and begin to develop good levels of self-confidence. Staff have worked extremely hard to support children in their personal, social and emotional development and children's behaviour is very positive. For example, staff consistently praise children when they use good manners and are kind to each other. However, there are times when staff expect young children to focus on activities for too long.

Staff have high expectations for all children who attend. They talk proudly about the children they work with and know them very well. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have an excellent bond with their key person. They are happy, settled and begin to form relationships with other staff and children. Children who receive extra funding are supported by staff on a one-to-one basis. They make very good progress towards their individual learning goals. Gaps in children's learning are closing and they are prepared to move on to school.

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

• The curriculum for children is interesting and exciting. Staff provide opportunities for children to broaden their experiences and build secure foundations for their future learning. For example, staff focus on helping children to become independent in their self-care from an early age. Babies enjoy using glitter and glue to develop their hand-to-eye coordination, in preparation for feeding themselves. Toddlers begin to use the toilet and staff show them how to wash their hands thoroughly. Older children are encouraged to put on their own hats and coats to play outdoors.
• Children are keen to join in with a range of experiences, which reflect their current interests. For example, young children throw coloured bean bags into hoops. They practise counting in sequence with staff and laugh when the colours do not match, making adjustments to correct this. Older children enjoy using dough to strengthen their fingers in preparation for early writing. However, some staff do not always challenge and extend children's individual learning. For example, some children count past 10 with ease and staff miss opportunities to develop this further.
• Children benefit from healthy and nutritious meals, which are cooked at the nursery. Staff encourage children to try new food. Overall, children enjoy sitting together around the table for mealtimes. They learn about the importance of oral health. For example, young children use toothbrushes on laminated cards to practise their skills, while staff talk to them about going to the dentist.
• Staff have very close relationships with children and meet their care needs effectively. For instance, staff who work with babies know their routines for sleeping and when they will become hungry. They soothe babies who have just woken up and provide cuddles for reassurance. Older children know they can go to staff to ask for help and show confidence in their own ability.
• Children's behaviour is consistently good across the whole nursery. The environment in each room is positive and staff are excellent role models. Older children offer to share resources without support and have exceptionally good manners. Young children show an awareness of the rules and boundaries during activities. The manager has plans for staff's professional development to help them further support children's behaviour and reflect on their expectations. For instance, on occasion, staff expect children to sit for long periods of time during group times and lunch.
• The manager and leadership team have an in-depth knowledge of the local area and families who attend. They help staff to tailor their levels of support to meet as many individual needs as possible and promote equality. Parents are very happy with the care and education that their children receive. They state they 'trust this team completely and know they treat children as they would their own'. Other parents are delighted with the progress that their children have made in their communication development. They appreciate how much support they have received to help with this at home.
• The manager has high expectations for staff and children. She provides staff with a robust support structure and encourages them to take pride in their work with children. For example, each room within the nursery is led by an experienced senior member of staff, who provides day-to-day guidance and support to their team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make sure that staff sharply focus their teaching to help children to make the best possible progress
• enhance staff's understanding of how to support young children's behaviour, so that their expectations are not too high.