Daisy Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children warmly as they arrive. Children are eager to explore the activities available. They are happy and settle quickly into the nursery routines. Staff form positive relationships with children, who excitedly tell them about their home news. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Staff are positive role models who have high expectations of all the children. They teach children to share the toys and take turns from an early age. Staff listen to children attentively when they are talking, and they treat them with the utmost respect. This helps to build children's self-esteem and self-worth.

Staff plan interesting activities for children using what they know is of interest to them. This helps to motivate children's learning. Children gain a thirst for knowledge from a young age. They benefit from a range of interesting outings that build on their experiences. For example, staff take children on public transport to visit New Brighton. Children order their own food when staff take them to the café. Staff also take children on walks around the local environment. This helps them to learn more about the world around them.

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

• Leaders create an ambitious curriculum for all children. Staff know the children well and have a secure knowledge of their development and progress over time. They plan appropriate activities that help children achieve their next steps in learning.
• Communication and language are prioritised by staff. Staff patiently repeat words to babies as they share books together. They join in with older children's imaginative play, such as pretending to be police officers in the outdoor area. Staff introduce children to new vocabulary as they play together. This helps children make progress with their speaking skills.
• Staff plan ways to enhance children's growing independence. For example, babies feed themselves at mealtimes using cutlery. Toddlers retrieve their coats from their pegs and try to put them on before going outside. Older children set the table for mealtimes. These opportunities help children feel proud of the activities they can complete by themselves.
• Children's physical development is promoted well. For example, babies giggle with glee as they push prams around the garden with their peers. Toddlers make marks as they use water to paint the outdoor walls and floor. Children have copious opportunities to climb, balance and run around outside. This helps children to strengthen their large- and small-muscle movements.
• Parents praise staff for being welcoming and friendly. The regular updates about where children are up to in their development and ways that parents can support this at home help to provide continuity in children's learning.
• The special educational needs coordinator is passionate about supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She works closely with staff, parents and other professionals to implement interventions and strategies to meet children's individual needs. All children are helped to make good progress in their learning.
• Staff use additional funding, such as early years pupil premium, to enrich children's learning experiences. For example, staff recently purchased puppets and books that depict different emotions. This helped to support children's understanding of different feelings.
• Leaders place a strong emphasis on well-being and developing staff's skills and knowledge. Supportive supervision sessions, with well-chosen targets, help staff to further improve their practice. Attendance in a range of professional courses, such as in communication and language, helps them to enhance children's learning and development.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles for children. The owner provides freshly prepared, nutritious meals that meet children's individual dietary needs. Although the curriculum includes ways for all children to learn about oral hygiene, staff are not implementing this consistently. While babies clean their teeth at nursery every day, the opportunities for older children to learn these skills have waned.
• Children's behaviour is good. They respond to staff directions positively and follow their instructions well. Staff remind children of the rules before each activity begins. This helps children to remember the kind and caring behaviour that is expected of them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently implement the curriculum to help all children learn about the importance of good oral health.