Dots & Tots Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show positive relationships with staff. For example, when younger children use both their hands to cover their eyes, staff say 'peekaboo'. Children remove their hands and laugh with staff. Children are supported to persevere when they face challenges in their play. When they struggle to make pieces fit into inset puzzles, staff offer suggestions and give children praise when they fit the pieces correctly. This contributes to helping raise children's self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities.

Children show an enjoyment of playing with puppets. For instance, when younger children give staff puppets, staff put them on their hands and sing a song about the puppet. When older children find smaller finger puppets, they put them on their fingers and confidently sing songs they know on their own. This shows the progression children make with their speaking skills. Older children have opportunities to join activities that help them to remember and recall favourite stories. For instance, older children use foam and pretend this is cement when they fix toy bricks together to make houses. Staff ask them who is coming to their house, and children reply, 'The big, bad wolf.'

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

• Children are encouraged to be independent. For example, staff ask younger children to use both hands when they pour cereal into a tray. Older children choose what food they would like to eat at lunchtime and competently carry their bowl to the table themselves.
• Staff share information with parents about their children's day. This includes sending them photos of activities that children enjoy and making them aware of what their children eat during the day. Parents say that they like how staff focus on stories each week, and they have purchased the same books to read to their children at home. This helps to provide consistency for supporting children's literacy and language skills.
• Staff support children to follow their interests to extend their learning. For instance, when children like playing with toy cars, staff suggest they make a road for their toy cars, encouraging them to build on their imaginative skills. Children concentrate and persevere to fix together pieces of road track, showing their problem-solving skills.
• Staff support older children to listen, follow instructions and take turns. For example, children listen to stories, line up and wait their turn to wash their hands prior to having lunch. However, at times, staff do not support other children to understand what is expected of them and the possible consequences of their actions on themselves, their peers and the environment.
• The nursery cook and staff offer children a variety of nutritious snacks and meals. This contributes to children receiving healthy foods. Staff help children to identify foods that are good for their bodies. For instance, after staff read stories to children about the colour green, staff ask children what is their favourite green food that is healthy. Children reply, 'broccoli' and are very keen to eat all the broccoli they are given at lunchtime.
• Overall, the curriculum to help children build on their communication and language skills is effective. For example, staff name images that younger children see on the pages in books. Older children finish saying sentences in familiar stories. However, staff do not consider a wider range of strategies to help children who speak English as an additional language with their language development. For example, staff do not gather or use key words in children's home language to support children's understanding.
• The management team makes changes in the nursery that have a positive impact on children's experiences. For example, older children now use the playroom upstairs, where they can access technological devices that will help them learn skills in preparation for their move on to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to support children to understand what is expected of them and how their behaviours may impact on themselves, their peers and the environment
• help staff to develop their interactions with children who speak English as an additional language to support their understanding and language development.