Dell Cottage Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this warm, welcoming nursery. They are happy, motivated and socially confident. Staff know children extremely well and skilfully plan curriculum-based activities tailored to all children's individual needs, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children with gaps in their learning make rapid progress.

Leaders and staff create a rich language environment. Babies listen intently to staff as they talk with them while they fill buckets with sand. Staff skilfully expand babies' sounds and words and accelerate their use of language. Younger children enthusiastically invent new lyrics to well-known songs such as 'The Wheels on the Bus' and use pictures of vehicles to generate a range of fun sounds and inspire new vocabulary. Older children sustain their concentration as they play games that help them to recognise the patterns in language. They say, 'Mat, bat and cat all sound the same!'

Staff provide clear boundaries and structure to children's learning and play. Children feel safe and confident as they explore and become deeply involved in their learning. Leaders deploy staff strategically to ensure that children get the maximum benefit from the outdoor area. Children get lots of exercise. They climb up tricky climbing walls, developing strength in their hands and core muscles. They respond positively to staff instructions to ensure that they are safe.

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

• Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum to make sure that all children, including those with SEND, make excellent progress. They consistently strive to find effective ways of working with children and focus on initiatives that will improve their learning. They set a great example by modelling expectations to staff and inspiring them to quickly incorporate effective teaching practices throughout the setting.
• Leaders and staff accurately identify the developmental needs of children under their care. They systematically and regularly focus their attention on children's progress and reflect deeply on the steps required for them to progress even further. Leaders monitor, challenge and enhance staff's understanding of individual children's development and support them in designing curriculum activities that help children to make accelerated progress. Staff share their findings with parents and encourage them to contribute to their children's next steps. Their strong partnership and collaboration with parents increases their shared expectations of what children can do. They share in their excitement of children's achievements.
• Leaders support their staff to continually develop professionally. They empower staff with the skills to evaluate for themselves how to improve children's learning. Staff reflect on training that they have attended and take time to determine what would best benefit children in their setting. They regularly discuss, model and support one another to incorporate new ideas in their day-to-day practice. For example, staff have fully embedded high-quality mathematical experiences for children. Staff and children make a tally chart on a chalkboard to count the number of balls they throw through a hoop and use metre rulers to measure the length of play dough they have rolled out. They say, 'That's a six and a nine, 69!' Children talk accurately and confidently about the shapes that they have painted.
• Staff plan highly sequenced learning opportunities to help to introduce children to the world around them. They film videos of what it is like shopping at the supermarket and build role-play shops where children re-enact dialogue, practising the vocabulary appropriate for a conversation with a shopkeeper. Children are excited to go on trips to the local post office and love the experience of sending and receiving a letter. They learn how plants grow as they inspect the roots of bedding flowers and talk with staff about water, soil and the sunlight they need to grow well. Staff reinforce key vocabulary by singing simple songs about how plants grow.
• Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff quickly support children to manage their emotions, particularly for children with SEND. Leaders and staff place great importance on supporting children's communication skills to help them regulate their behaviour. Leaders provide tailored training for both staff and parents to attend together to ensure consistent and effective interactions with children with SEND.