Cowplain Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff give children a warm welcome as they arrive at nursery. Children confidently leave their parents and settle quickly, engaging in activities with their friends. Staff know the children extremely well. They prioritise building strong relationships with them and their families. This helps children feel safe and develop a sense of belonging.

Leaders and staff plan a wide range of activities to support children's early literacy skills. Children enjoy listening to familiar stories, such as 'We're going on a bear hunt'. Staff naturally pause while reading the story, and the children excitedly tell the next part. Children enjoy taking part in music and movement activities related to stories. For example, children listen to music and are delighted to go on their own bear hunt acting out the story. Furthermore, they enjoy trips to the school library where they loan books to bring back to nursery. This supports children to make good progress in their communication and language development.

Staff support children to behave well. Children know how to share and take turns. For instance, children use timers effectively, they know when the sand is in the bottom of the timer that it is their turn. They thank their friends as they give them the toy they have been waiting for. Children listen and follow instructions. For example, when they hear the tidy-up music, they tidy away the toys together.

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

• Leaders and staff are passionate about their roles. Leaders understand the importance of supporting staff's well-being. They ensure effective, regular staff supervision sessions are in place. All staff have access to targeted training opportunities, which supports their professional development.
• There is good provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders and staff recognise the importance of partnership working. For instance, they work closely with parents, other professionals, local schools and other settings that children attend. Staff put in place swift interventions when they identify children need additional support. This helps children with SEND to make good progress alongside their friends.
• Staff understand the importance of developing children's communication and language skills. They support and extend children's vocabulary through play. For example, when playing with the play dough, children say they are making fossils. Staff use these opportunities to extend children's learning by asking them questions and talking to them about fossils and dinosaurs. Children enjoy engaging in conversations with staff and their friends throughout the day. For instance, when walking to the school, they discuss the birds, which leads to searching for birds' nests and talking about animals' habitats.
• Leaders have implemented an ambitious curriculum that reflects all children's individual needs and interests. Staff gather information about the children and use this to plan exciting learning experiences. However, leaders have not ensured that all staff have a clear understanding of the curriculum intentions. This leads to occasional inconsistencies in how staff deliver the curriculum across the nursery.
• Children learn about their local community. For example, they enjoy walks in the nature reserve, where they learn about the local environment. Furthermore, staff use walks in the community to teach the children about road safety. This supports children's learning and development.
• Children's good health is well promoted. They have ample opportunities to engage in physical play. For instance, they enjoy playing football and using balance bicycles in the large hall and going to the park. Staff support parents with healthy lunch-box ideas. For example, they share tips and photos of healthy lunch boxes. This supports children's health and well-being.
• Generally, children's mathematical development is supported well. For instance, children enjoy measuring how far they have jumped, and compare the distance of their jump with their friends. However, at times, staff do not recognise when they can extend children's mathematical learning further, such as promoting their awareness of number and shape during activities.
• Partnerships with parents are at the heart of this nursery. Key people know and support their key children well. They share children's learning and development with parents. For example, staff have regular meetings with them to discuss children's progress and next steps in learning. They share ideas and resources to continue children's learning at home. For instance, children enjoy borrowing books from the nursery to read with parents at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's knowledge of the curriculum intent, to ensure all staff are clear about the skills and knowledge they want children to gain during their time at nursery
• strengthen staff practice to promote children's awareness of number and shape during their play, and extend their mathematical learning further.