Crescent Corner

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel safe and secure in the care of staff, who support their emotional well-being. When children are a little unsettled, staff are patient and reassuring. They work with parents to understand children's routines and needs to help children to feel settled and well cared for. Staff talk to children about their feelings. They say, 'Are you feeling sad today?' This helps children to understand their feelings and emotions.

Staff plan learning that teaches new skills and embeds emerging skills. For example, children construct a story together. Staff provide the outline for the story, leaving gaps for children to fill in. Children use their imaginations and the range of vocabulary that they have already learned. Staff introduce new words to help children to construct the story. This helps children to develop a love of stories, as well as to widen their vocabulary even further. As younger children attempt to form sentences, staff repeat back what they say. This helps them to practise sentence structure and develop their communication and language skills from an early age.

Children follow the nursery routine with ease. When the tidy-up song is played, children help to tidy up the toys. Staff praise children, saying, 'good job' or 'well done', as children help to tidy up the toys at the end of the session. Staff demonstrate how to clean the sand off the toys before they put them away, and children copy. Children learn what is expected of them, and they behave well.

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

• The manager has worked hard since the previous inspection to ensure that children benefit from a varied curriculum. Teaching now focuses on what staff know about children. They use assessment and the information they gather from parents to plan learning. The curriculum is based on the key skills that staff and the manager wants children to learn by the time they move on to school.
• Staff ask open-ended questions, saying, for example, 'What are you going to build?' or 'what do you think goes there?'. They give children time to think and to answer. As children attempt to build a train track, they ask staff what piece they should use. Staff question them, asking for their ideas. Children test out different pieces and then say, 'I think it needs a bigger one'. They solve the problem and find the correct piece. This is helping children to develop their critical thinking skills and test out their knowledge.
• Staff often demonstrate learning for children. They show them how to do something that they have not done before. However, occasionally, staff do not use their good questioning techniques to help children to recall what they have already learned to deepen their understanding even further.
• Staff provide many opportunities for children to practise healthy routines. They encourage good hygiene, such as handwashing. During toothbrushing routines, they teach children about why we need to brush our teeth. However, staff do not consistently teach children about why they undertake other activities that support their good health. For example, during physical activity, they do not expand on why children need to stretch or breathe in and out. In particular, those children in older age ranges are not always helped to fully understand their own health and body.
• Key persons know their children very well. They ensure that they plan learning that meets children's needs. When children need additional support, key persons and managers communicate with parents and make appropriate referrals to external agencies. In particular, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. They receive individual support when they need it and make good progress alongside their peers.
• Parents say that their children are safe and secure at the nursery. They describe how their children have developed their social skills, speech and language development, and their confidence. They describe how staff support them to help their children at home, including by giving them ideas to help to develop their children's vocabulary. This supports children to make even further progress.
• The manager ensures that supervision sessions and performance management are effective. Staff fully understand the curriculum for children. They receive training and development opportunities that help them to plan teaching that meets individual children's needs. This is helping children to make the progress of which they are capable. Apprentices receive time and support to complete the additional learning as part of their course to help them to be successful.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more opportunities for children to recall prior learning to help them to fully embed their knowledge
• introduce more opportunities to teach children about keeping themselves healthy and learn about their bodies.