Cosy Cottage Daycare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle happily in this small and homely nursery. Staff build strong foundations for babies through a stimulating curriculum and very consistent and warm interactions. They include babies' care routines from home into their daily practice to support babies' well-being effectively. Staff value each child and take time to find out about their interests and skills, which they link to activities well. They have high expectations of children and encourage children to act in positive ways.

The curriculum is wide and varied and all children make good progress. Staff support children's creative development well. Babies enjoy exploring the texture of cereal oats and staff encourage babies to listen to the crunching sound they make. Older children are fascinated as they play with a cornflour mixture and observe the changes in consistency.

Staff encourage children to use their problem-solving skills to rescue toy animals trapped in cornflour. Children are delighted when they succeed. Staff support children's mathematical skills effectively. They help children to match numbered bean bags to support their number recognition skills. Staff sing counting songs to help children to learn to count successfully. These activities help children to gain useful skills in preparation for school.

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

• Staff provide a wide range of stimulating resources and activities to support children's physical development well. For instance, children enjoy the challenge of climbing across different types of frames. They balance skilfully across stepping stones, steer wheeled toys carefully and gain good physical skills.
• Overall, children gain good communication, language and literacy skills. Staff question children effectively and give them time to think and respond. Staff teach children new words, such as 'hard' and 'smooth', while they play with creative materials. They teach babies the names of common objects and sing action songs and rhymes. This supports children's language development well.
• Staff know how to seek support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to promote the best outcomes for their learning. They understand the value of working closely with parents and carers and professionals to support children's needs. Staff observe children regularly to identify and close any gaps in their learning.
• Staff work effectively with parents and give them regular updates on their children's progress. They do this in flexible and effective ways, including regular parents' meetings. Staff work closely with parents to support children's next steps in learning in areas such as language and literacy.
• Leaders reflect on all aspects of the provision and decide on areas for improvement. They monitor and support staff effectively. Leaders spend time in group rooms to observe and feed back to staff on ways to improve their practice. Leaders meet with staff regularly to discuss and support their work. They ensure that staff have opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge. For example, staff have attended a course on supporting babies' development, which has extended their practice in this area.
• Children gain good independence skills. Staff teach children how to put on their outdoor shoes and coats. Children skilfully pour their own drinks and happily help to tidy away toys at the end of their play. Staff teach younger children how to feed themselves to support their independence skills. They help children to learn to share and to take turns, for example by playing simple board games.
• At times, particularly during whole-group activities, such as story time, staff do not consistently consider how to meet the needs of younger children. For example, they read long stories that are more suitable for older children. This affects children who are aged two to three years, who become restless and lose focus on their learning.
• Staff have started to teach children about some feelings, such as happiness. However, they do not teach children about a wider range of emotions. This means that staff do not consistently enhance children's understanding of feelings to support their understanding of themselves and others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend knowledge of how to enhance the development of children aged two and three years, particularly when organising group activities
• strengthen the curriculum to enhance children's understanding of feelings to support their understanding of themselves and others.