Dradishaw House Day Nursery Partnership

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress in their learning and development. Staff know children well. They consider children's individual interests when planning the curriculum. Staff use assessment well to check what children already know and what they need to learn next. Children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Staff are positive role models. Children behave very well. Staff encourage toddlers to say 'good morning' to their friends on arrival at the nursery. They use visual prompts to help pre-school children express their feelings, such as different emotion flashcards. Staff also talk with pre-school children about the rules of the nursery, for example how to walk indoors to help keep themselves safe. Staff consider age-appropriate ways to enhance children's personal and social development, including their emotional literacy.

Babies confidently use small apparatus indoors, such as the slide. They sit on toys and use them independently to rock back and forth. Toddlers climb the steps and go down the slide outdoors with staff close by for support. They use wheeled toys that they push along with their feet and manoeuvre around their friends. Staff provide a range of activities for children to be physically active indoors and outdoors.

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

• Leaders recognise the importance of effective supervisions and continuous professional development. Staff attend training to improve their practice and experiences for children. For example, some staff are currently accessing training to help enrich children's speech and communication needs. As a result, staff have introduced visual aids and use signs and symbols as they interact with children. They also use objects of reference to ensure that all children, including those with SEND, understand their instructions and spoken words.
• Staff consider the sequence of learning well for children's self-care development. For example, babies use their hands to pick up fruit and drink from cups with lids. Toddlers use tweezers to pick up fruit and place the items in a bowl. Pre-school children collect their own plate and cutlery at lunchtime. When they have finished eating, they scrape any leftover food into the bin and place their items in the designated area. Staff support children well to be ready for their move in the nursery and to mirror routines children will follow at school.
• Babies enjoy the sensory experience of feeling breakfast cereal as they play with role play animals. They show what they have learned and remember as they attempt some words from the rhyme 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm'. Staff offer babies different textures for exploration with their fingers, such as dry sand and water.
• Toddlers pour and transfer water from one object to another. They show good concentration as well as their developing hand-eye coordination skills. Some pre-school children match shapes to those displayed on the 'butterfly'. Staff introduce words such as 'clockwise' and demonstrate which way round the group they will go. Some pre-school children count the sides of shapes and name them, such as a circle, rectangle, triangle and square.
• Overall, staff's interactions with children are good. However, the curriculum for mathematics is not planned as well as other areas of learning. For example, during water play with toddlers, staff do not always consider how they can introduce mathematical concepts and ideas. While some children in the pre-school room enjoy focused mathematical group-time activities, others quickly leave the group. This is because the group size is initially large. Also, staff do not always consider the different abilities, ages and stages of development of all children in the group.
• All children enjoy outdoor play. Pre-school children dip paintbrushes in water and make marks on the wall. Babies enjoy the sensory experience of sand. However, there are fewer opportunities for toddlers to engage in sensory exploration and to make marks in different ways outdoors.
• The support available for children with SEND is good. Leaders and staff work in close partnership with parents to help ensure that children receive the targeted support that they need. They also work competently with other professionals and use funding well to help secure the services and resources that help children reach their potential.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider the curriculum planning and delivery for mathematics further for toddlers and pre-school children
• consider the curriculum outdoors for toddlers to enhance their sensory and creative exploration further.