DanDeLions

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle happily into the nursery and are happy and relaxed in the welcoming environment. Babies and toddlers develop strong, trusting relationships with staff. Their individual personalities, likes and dislikes are understood well. This helps staff to tailor care to their individual needs and supports younger children's personal, social and emotional development well. Older children are confident in their play and interaction with their friends. They behave well and learn how to value and respect the differing needs of their friends. For instance, children take turns squeezing paints, as they work together to create their volcano.

Children benefit from a challenging and varied curriculum which motivates them to play and learn and supports their good communication and language skills. For instance, babies learn the names of the 'seal' and the 'whale' as they search for them in water. Older children learn new words rapidly and speak confidently, sharing their thoughts and ideas. Children take responsibility for some age-appropriate tasks and manage these well. For example, toddlers help tidy away toys, as they work together to sort out where these belong. Older children serve themselves foods at mealtimes and pour their own drinks. This helps older children embed necessary skills in readiness for school.

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

• The nursery remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The manager and staff understand the long-term impact the pandemic has had on children's personal, social and emotional development and focus on this as a priority. Staff encourage children to get to know their friends, and their key members of staff. They foster these relationships well. Staff use their high-quality and sensitive interactions to help support children's emotional well-being. They ensure children are respected and valued for their individuality. All children demonstrate they feel happy and well cared for.
• The manager leads her team well. Staff work well together and there is a happy and harmonious environment throughout the nursery. Staff say that they feel valued, respected and supported in their roles in the nursery. The manager uses her regular meetings with staff to ensure that teaching is consistently good. The manager recognises that there is more she can do to continue to target and evaluate staff professional development to enable them to develop their skills to an outstanding level.
• Staff provide children with a wide variety of opportunities to develop their physical skills. Babies learn how to take steps confidently, as they move from crawling to standing. As toddlers dress their dolls, staff help them persevere at securing press studs on the dolls' clothes. Pre-school children practise balancing along low-level beams, confidently crossing from one side to another. Staff recognise and value these opportunities to build on children's physical development, helping them be confident and coordinated in their movements.
• Children benefit from the strong focus that staff place on their communication and language skills. Staff who work with the youngest children, narrate their play, as they introduce new language. They respond to babies who are beginning to babble, repeating back these new sounds. As older children create their own volcanos, they use words such as 'eruption' to describe what they think might happen. All children make good progress in their speaking and listening skills.
• Staff have a good knowledge of what children know and can do. Those who work with the youngest children provide a curriculum that is focused on what children need to learn next. Activities are tailored to what staff would like children to achieve, as their next steps in learning. While children are well engaged in planned activities, staff are not always clear how these support older children's individual learning needs, to help them achieve at the highest levels.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery staff and management team. Partnerships with parents are good. Staff provide parents with regular exchanges of information about children's progress and offer advice and support to help parents continue learning at home. For instance, staff offer ideas and guidance to parents of babies, as they are weaning to solid foods. Parents comment that 'the nursery is warm and welcoming and children feel comfortable as staff know children well.'

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• reflect more closely on staff professional development to help evaluate and target training that contributes to the continued quality of teaching, to support children's learning to the highest level
• enhance staff understanding of how to use their knowledge of what children know and can do, to focus more precisely on the learning intention for each child.