Cranleigh Lodge Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery happily and quickly settle to play. They respond easily to the very caring and friendly staff and form warm bonds with them. Children learn to share toys and be kind to others. Staff praise children well for their achievements and help them develop good self-esteem. Children show pride when staff put their names on the 'nursery values tree' to reflect their positive actions.

Staff provide a well-balanced curriculum which gives a strong focus to children becoming confident, independent and resilient learners and provides the foundation and skills they need for their future learning at school. Children make good progress. They develop a keen curiosity and interest in their play and develop their imaginations and creativity very well. For example, pre-school children balance lolly sticks on upturned paper cups to make bridges and put a toy goat on top to reflect a story they like. They smile and say, 'Who's that trip trapping over my bridge?'. Babies like cuddling their dolls and find small blankets to wrap them in. Toddlers become absorbed rolling toy cars down a piece of guttering. Pre-school children make a play dough birthday cake and show awareness of using numbers for a purpose as they say, 'It's for my friend and there are five candles on it'.

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

• Leaders show a strong commitment to supporting staff and developing their professional skills. For example, staff have raised their awareness of how children develop their speech and ways they can promote this further. They have also made improvements to the rooms, such as the toddlers play areas. This has provided toddlers with more resources and independent choices of play.
• Children enjoy a range of activities that support their growing mobility effectively. For example, babies happily crawl over soft play shapes and gain confidence with their movements. They carefully climb the low steps of a slide and stand up at the top. They show great enthusiasm as they say, 'ready, steady go' and smile as they slide down. Toddlers squeal with delight as they learn to jump with two feet together when staff sing a favourite song about monkeys jumping on the bed. Pre-school children gain a good sense of balance as they hold their arms out and walk carefully across a wooden beam.
• Parents speak highly of staff and say they are very supportive and caring of their children. Parents say that staff involve them effectively in their children's activities and give them ideas to extend this learning at home. Staff form positive partnerships with parents to provide continuity for children's care. For example, they discuss babies sleep routines with parents and follow these at nursery.
• Babies and toddlers like making marks in their sensory play. Babies move the toy dinosaurs in and out of a tray of cornflour mixture. They watch with fascination as the mixture slowly drips off them and makes patterns in the tray. Toddlers push their fingers into playdough and look at the marks they make. Pre-school children begin to recognise letters of personal significance such as the initial letter of their name. However, staff do not always extend this learning. For example, to encourage children to start linking letters with sounds more within activities and promote their early literacy skills as well as possible.
• Staff give a very calm, reassuring approach and keep clear daily routines to help children feel secure and know what happens next. Children behave well and play cooperatively with their friends.
• Leaders and staff monitor children's progress effectively and identify what they need to achieve next. They follow children's lead in play and provide a wide range of purposeful activities to encourage their learning very well. For example, pre-school children tell staff they want to build a 'nursery made of sand' or a 'car house'. Staff talk with children about the different shape and size of these models and help them work out how much space they need to build them.
• Staff encourage children's self-care skills from a young age. Babies learn to drink from small, easy to hold glasses and toddlers start to carefully pour their own drinks. Pre-school children concentrate well using knives and forks to eat their meals. Staff provide a good variety of nutritious snacks and meals for children. At times though, staff do not make the most of opportunities to develop children's awareness of healthy living as well as possible. For example, to promote their understanding of foods they eat further still and learn how these help them grow fit and strong.
• Children develop good communication skills. Staff repeat the sounds and words that babies make and praise them for their efforts to talk. Toddlers look at a colourful nursery rhyme book and quietly sing their favourite songs. Pre-school children like talking with staff about going to school. They describe their thoughts well as they hold their arms out wide and say, 'We are going to a ginormous school'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the opportunities to build on children's early literacy skills, with particular regard to their understanding of linking sounds with letters
• make more use of ways to raise children's awareness of the benefits of foods that support their good health.