Daffodils Outdoor Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the outdoor setting eager to see staff and their friends, and immediately engage in play. They confidently explore the environment and try new things, seeking reassurance from staff, such as a cuddle or shared smile, when needed. Children demonstrate their close relationships with other children of all ages. They happily invite their friends to join in as they pretend to create a house from a plastic crate. Staff's teaching and guidance helps children to extend this play, discussing and deciding what items they might need to 'engineer' what they have designed. Staff support children with a range of skills during this activity including their writing ability. Children work together as a team to gather items ready to build. Staff remind them what social communication and language they can use when helping others. Children respond to staff praise and encouragement as they persevere to peg material to wood, even when they find this hard.

Throughout activities and experiences, children show extensive listening and attention skills. They follow staff instructions and know what staff expect of them, including being responsible for the environment. Children help staff to wash their plates and cups after lunchtime and put items back where they belong. Staff help children to develop their independence throughout the day, particularly during familiar routines. Children know what items of clothing they must have on and are able to put these on, including doing zips up, with minimal prompting from staff.

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

• Staff meet regularly to identify what children need to learn next and consider how they can support children's development during interactions and activities. They put small targets in place to help children with special education needs and/or disabilities to make progress. Staff gather information from parents and carers about what children are interested in and use this to plan experiences children will engage in.
• Staff provide children with experiences in the environment to capture their interest and imagination. They encourage children to make choices and lead their play while inputting teaching moments to help them to develop further. For example, staff help older children to use their physical skills, rolling tyres and lifting wood to create an obstacle course. They explain to children how to improve their balancing and jumping, praising them for demonstrating their growing strength and skills.
• Overall, staff interact with children well to help them to develop their speech and communication. They ask older children carefully constructed questions and give them time to think and respond. Staff teach older children the language to use to politely negotiate, such as how to explain to others when they have not yet finished with a toy and saying excuse me.
• Staff help younger children to grip paint brushes and make marks with different tools. They show them how to draw different shapes and explain the names for the shape and size, such as 'big circle'. However, at times, staff's teaching interactions and the resources they provide are not relevant to some children's age and stage of learning. For instance, they provide a tray of shaving foam for children to explore. However, they continuously support children not to put it in their mouth, reducing their ability to use other meaningful interactions. Furthermore, they use some language that does not support younger children to develop their vocabulary, including saying 'ta' when passing them objects.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe and follow the behaviour expectations they have in place. Children remind their friends what staff have taught them about keeping out of the path of the tyre swings and why they wash their hands before eating lunch.
• Leaders have a strong focus on staff well-being and retaining a highly qualified team. They provide staff with support and coaching to develop their practice and long-standing staff demonstrate the impact this has on the quality of their interactions. Leaders evaluate different elements of the day and make improvements when necessary. For example, they changed how and when parents drop children off to better support children to feel settled and reassured.
• Parents feel well supported and included in children's development and say their children 'thrive' at the setting. Staff share ideas to help parents to support children at home and to keep them informed about what they have done during the day. Parents explain staff always take on board their feedback when considering changes.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further differentiate their practice to be able to meet the developmental needs of younger children more consistently, particularly with their speech and vocabulary.