Daisy Chain Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive is this stimulating, totally child-orientated environment. All children make exceptional progress in their learning and development. They are highly motivated and eager to take part in a wealth of stimulating, rich and varied activities which capture their interest and imagination. They concentrate well and develop a deep curiosity to explore and try out their own ideas. Children's behaviour is exemplary. They are kind to their friends and learn to care for and respect the nursery animals.

Children's voices are valued and respected. Older children join a children's committee where they are involved in making decisions and vote on what they would like. Each child has a role within the committee, such as being a friend, a hug monitor and a litter monitor. They learn about conservation and recycling and implement this into the general ethos of the day. For example, the light monitor reminds staff to turn off the light when they are not in the rooms.

Top priority is given to children's health. All children, including the youngest, spend the majority of the day outdoors in the fresh air. Children sleep and eat outside in covered areas, which protect them from the elements while still providing fresh air. As a result, staff say that children's appetites and quality of sleep have increased, and this has significantly attributed to children's general well-being. Children learn about healthy and unhealthy foods through a variety of activities, such as making apple juice from the apples they have grown. Older children learn that fruit contains vitamins and that protein provides energy.

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

• The nursery benefits from a management team that is cohesive and work exceptionally well together. They have a clear vision for the future which they implement to raise the quality of children's experiences and provide them with the very best start in life.
• Staff well-being is given top priority. Managers have created a well-being room which has been designed to help staff to relax in a calm environment. A wealth of information, including advice on meditation and useful phone numbers, provides staff with additional support should they need it.
• Older children have great fun in the digging hole, which evolved through their ideas and suggestions and is a complete learning experience to support children's imagination, physical and problem-solving skills. Children have transformed the hole into a volcano, a waterfall and a mudslide and added a rope ladder to help them climb out. They develop their understanding of keeping themselves safe as they learn to clamber in and out of the hole safely.
• Developing children's literacy skills is of paramount importance. The nursery has a 'Read five a day' policy. They agree to read children four books at nursery and ask parents to read the fifth at home. Parents send photographs of them reading to children and share the books they have read. All children throughout the nursery thoroughly enjoy listening to stories and older children learn to use books to find out facts they are interested in.
• Outdoors is a total extension to children's learning and there is a vast wealth of learning opportunities for them to explore. Children use natural resources for mathematics, such as weighing stones, pebbles, conkers and shells as they learn about 'heavy' and 'light'. Younger children skilfully spread fat onto cardboard tubes and roll them in seeds to feed the birds.
• Children develop an interest in nature. They tickle Shelley (the tortoise)'s nose and show great delight as she crawls over to them to be stroked. They know that she has a shell to protect her from the weather and that it is her home. They concentrate as they hunt for bugs under logs. Staff skilfully extend children's understanding and language as they teach children that if there is more than one woodlouse they are called woodlice. Children compare the difference between a woodlouse and a centipede and know that the centipede has more legs.
• Staff know the children exceptionally well. They value and respect their different cultures and introduce this into their conversations. They encourage children to lead a procession while banging a dhol drum sideways. Staff explain that this is the way the drum is played at a Sikh wedding.
• Staff attend copious amounts of training to develop their already excellent knowledge and skills. Managers monitor staff practice, and they share ideas as a staff team. Managers and staff continually strive for improvements to ensure children receive a superb quality of care and learning.
• Highly comprehensive information is shared with parents and they are actively encouraged to contribute to their children's learning. Parents are enthusiastic and eager to share their experiences of the nursery and are wholly complimentary in their praise of the managers and staff.