Curious Explorers Day Nursery and Preschool Crookham Village

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy to enter the nursery. They feel safe and secure and separate from their parents with ease. Children gravitate towards the friendly and kind staff. They build strong and positive relationships with their key persons, who are extremely responsive to children's individual needs. Children experience an inspirational indoor and outdoor environment. They enjoy daily physical play, fresh air and exercise. For example, they relish using the resources outside in a variety of challenging ways and share their enjoyment of the forest school activities, which are a walk away. This helps to build up their stamina, strength and coordination. Children are extremely engaged in play and display high levels of self-motivation and commitment to learning. They behave exceptionally well, act on instructions and show respect for their peers and staff alike.

Staff prioritise preparing children for their future learning and school readiness. This focus is given a high priority throughout the nursery, from babies to pre-school. Staff expertly implement strategies that are age-appropriate to prepare children for their next stage in life. For example, they successfully encourage babies to separate from parents and settle in, challenge toddlers' communication and language skills and extend pre-schoolers' independent skills. All children make excellent progress, including children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

• Staff have an exceptional understanding of the overall curriculum within each room. They know children extremely well and plan around their interests. Staff focus on encouraging children's communication, language and social skills, as precisely identified as an area for development for children following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They engage children in deep and meaningful conversations at every opportunity. For example, staff enthusiastically interact with children during play and ask questions to build on their understanding of the stories they read together.
• Staff know children exceptionally well. They plan an environment for all children of every age to thrive and achieve the most they can. The manager and management team expertly continue to improve outcomes for children. For example, they closely monitor how staff implement the curriculum to ensure it is robust and they give high priority to staff's professional development, such as by offering regular training. During regular meetings, staff discuss how they can enhance the learning outcomes for children to challenge them further in their development. For example, a range of extra-curricular activities are available, such as yoga and language sessions, to further support learning.
• Staff are extremely happy, kind and incredibly passionate about the children in their care. They are eager to discuss children's progress and show genuine pride in their achievements. Parents compliment staff on their dedication. They say that staff are 'caring and nurturing' and that their children are 'always happy to go to nursery'. Parents state how they are always kept up to date with children's progress and development. They say that interventions are quickly put in place if needed, for example to support children with speech delay effectively. Parents say that they can see huge progress in their children's development as a result.
• Children have a great understanding of how to care for themselves from as early as babies. For example, babies are aware of the daily routine and attempt to wipe their faces with wipes after snack time. Staff slowly and sensitively introduce children in the toddler room to toilet training. They fully support this process through to the pre-school rooms. They work in partnership with parents to implement strategies to help children in this next stage of their learning. Children's independence skills and readiness for school are consistently supported exceptionally well by staff, who continually encourage children to build on their existing skills.
• The manager and management team have high aspirations and fully support staff. They go above and beyond to ensure staff's well-being is a priority, for example by engaging extra support and well-being help from outside professionals, if needed. Staff say how they can approach any member of the management team at any time. They are clearly happy in their roles, form a strong bond with each other and are a close-knit team. Staff interact seamlessly and share ideas and thoughts about the children in their care. The manager and management team respect the staff and their wealth of knowledge. This is clear to see in the exceptional good behaviour from the children in this wonderfully happy, nurturing and inspirational learning environment.