Daisy Chain Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to arrive at this inclusive and welcoming nursery. The nurturing staff form close relationships with children. Staff offer gentle reassurance and cuddles to a few hesitant children, enabling them to come into nursery with a smile. Children demonstrate they feel secure. They speak with confidence to visitors to the nursery. Babies raise their arms to be picked up by staff. They gaze into their key worker's eyes and giggle as they talk to them. Children show that they feel safe and are confident to explore the interesting and exciting environment and join in with the fun learning opportunities that staff provide.

Children's interests are central to the curriculum at this nursery. This contributes to children being engaged, curious and highly motivated to take part in the activities. Children engage for long periods as they explore water in a tray. Staff add lemon slices and cucumbers and encourage children to explore their senses through taste, touch and smell. Staff talk to children and introduce vocabulary such as splash, squish and sour. Children are independent and motivated learners who lead their own play. They show their imagination as they transport the lemon water into a teapot and pour the visitor a cup of tea.

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

• The management team has high expectations of the quality of care it wants to provide to the children and staff. It effectively uses supervisions to ensure staff well-being is high and uses peer observations to reflect on staff practice to improve outcomes for children. Staff speak highly of the support they receive.
• Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour. They are highly skilled in supporting children to understand the expected behavioural boundaries. They encourage children to share, take turns and talk about how they feel. Staff form positive relationships with children and offer lots of praise to boost children's self-esteem. This has a positive impact on children's confidence, behaviour and attitudes towards learning.
• The managers and staff provide a broad curriculum for the children and plan a wide array of fun and engaging activities with opportunities to learn. However, staff are not always consistent in helping children to use numbers and mathematical concepts during play activities to support their early mathematics.
• Staff follow children's lead and adapt activities to continue their learning in to other areas. For example, after finding worms and slugs in the garden, staff help children to create an insect house and talk about how worms live underground. This supports children in their understanding of the world.
• Overall, children's communication and language skills are supported well. Staff and children regularly sing nursery rhymes together. Staff sit alongside children in areas such as the home corner and continually talk to them as they play. Staff are skilled at supporting children's communication through effective questioning. However, staff do not consistently encourage children to respond or repeat words back to fully extend their early speaking skills.
• Staff support children well to develop their independence skills. They encourage children to try to do things for themselves. For example, babies learn how to use cutlery with confidence to feed themselves. Staff model and help younger children to pour water into a cup. Older children confidently wash and dry their own hands. This helps children to secure their independence skills.
• The managers and staff are aware of children's individual needs. Children who require additional support are quickly identified. The special educational needs coordinator liaises closely with parents and other agencies to provide appropriate support for children and their families. The managers and staff follow targeted plans and use additional funding effectively which help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make the best possible progress in their learning. Parents of children with SEND value the support their children receive at the nursery.
• Relationships with parents are strong. Parents speak highly of the nursery and feel well informed about what their children are doing. The managers and staff work well in partnership with parents to discuss children's next steps in their learning and how to support these at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to allow children enough time to think and respond to further extend their early speaking
• support staff to deliver the mathematics curriculum more effectively, to further enhance children's understanding of number and mathematical concepts.