Early Bairds Children's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy attending the nursery. They arrive eager to see their friends and play happily together. They have formed strong relationships with staff, who are kind and welcoming in their approach. Children demonstrate confidence and a positive attitude to learning. Staff have high expectations of children and provide activities that help children to make progress. Planning takes into account children's likes and interests. For example, following an autumnal walk, toddlers have collected leaves and pine cones. Staff created a sensory activity and hid what the children found during their walk within an ice sculpture. They encourage the children to work out how they can melt the ice in order to reveal the hidden autumn objects. This helps to create awe and wonder and develops children's awareness of the natural world around them.

Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure at the nursery. They behave well and are beginning to understand the routines at the nursery and what is expected of them. Although parents are unable to enter the nursery at present, due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, staff warmly greet their children at the door. Staff share information with parents about their child's care, learning and development using an electronic application and through discussions at arrival and collection times.

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

• Overall, staff support children to develop their emerging language skills. They use questioning to encourage children to express their ideas, and they use labelling and repetition as children play. However, staff working with younger children do not consistently support them to develop their growing vocabulary. They do not always model the correct pronunciation of words or recognise how dummies can affect children's language development. Furthermore, occasionally, staff working in the pre-school room do not model the correct pronunciation of letter sounds.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on helping children to develop their confidence and well-being. They plan transitions to new rooms and share information about children's backgrounds and developmental starting points. Children learn to consider their emotions and talk about these freely during circle-time activities. Furthermore, children engage in mindfulness activities that help them to regulate their feelings and understand their emotions. However, on occasions, staff do not successfully support children's transitions between activities and routines. This means that children become restless and disengaged as they wait for the next activity or routine to begin.
• Staff observe children's learning as they play and note their next steps in learning. However, staff do not always complete assessments of children's learning in a timely manner or share these with parents. Despite this, children make good progress, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.
• Young children are beginning to understand how to keep themselves safe. For example, toddlers carefully use scissors to cut up magazines. As they do, staff talk to them about the importance of keeping their fingers out of the way and how to carry the scissors safely. Furthermore, pre-school children show an impressive understanding of what to do in an emergency. They discuss who they would call if there was a fire and how to share their address so that the emergency services can help them. These activities help children to develop skills for the future.
• The manager is a reflective practitioner who has a clear vision regarding the future development of the nursery. She observes staff's practice and provides feedback to help to raise the quality of teaching to a higher standard. Staff engage in regular supervision sessions where their professional development is discussed and planned for.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They describe how their children have made progress since attending and how much they look forward to coming to the nursery. They comment on the friendly staff team and the flexible service that is provided. Parents value the online system that leaders have implemented. They appreciate the daily updates from staff about sleep routines, meals and activities. As a result, they feel that communication is a strength of the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to understand how to further extend children's growing vocabulary and communication skills
• help staff to consider how they can support children effectively during transitions in their daily routines, so that children do not become restless and disengaged
• develop further staff's awareness of the importance of completing timely assessments of children's progress and sharing these with parents, so that outcomes for children are continuously improving.