Early Days Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and safe at this good nursery. They show resilience while adapting to new routines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, children leave their parents with ease at the entrance and staff check their temperature. An effective key-person system helps staff get to know children and meet their individual needs, including helping them to settle during the induction period. Staff teach children about different emotions to help them to understand and regulate their feelings. Children learn to share toys and show kindness to their friends.

Children demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning. For example, babies show engagement as they develop their small-muscle skills while making marks using chunky chalks. Older children learn to use tweezers to pick up small 'chicks'. Babies explore the sounds that different objects and musical instruments can make. They develop their imaginations while pretending to speak on the toy telephone, saying 'bye' as they put it down. Outdoors, children develop their large-muscle skills and coordination while using vehicles. They show good spatial awareness and balance as they run and chase bubbles to stamp on them. Babies learn how to climb up steps to use the low-level slide.

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

• Leaders aim to 'give every child the best possible start in life' and in their education. Self-evaluation includes the views of staff, children and parents. This helps leaders to reflect on the nursery and identify areas to further improve.
• Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress. Overall, children access a curriculum which follows their interests and builds on what they already know and can do. That said, staff do not always plan and implement the curriculum with precision, to sequentially build the knowledge and skills that children need to acquire. For example, staff sometimes expect children to recognise written numbers which are too high for their individual levels of development. Sometimes, staff expect children to hold pencils to write, when their hand muscles are not quite ready.
• Staff promote children's communication, language and literacy skills well. They foster a love of books by reading stories and singing songs to children. Staff encourage children to repeat words to grow their vocabulary. For example, staff sing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star', and babies repeat the word 'star'. Staff use key words in children's home languages to help them to feel included. These language-rich opportunities help children, including those who speak English as an additional language, to develop a good grasp of English.
• Children learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others. For example, staff teach them about festivals such as Easter and Ramadan. Children show an interest in the roadworks outside the nursery, so staff take them to meet the builders and learn about their jobs. These opportunities help to prepare children for life in the society in which they belong.
• Care practices are good. For example, staff promote children's independence. Children learn to drink water from cups, eat healthy food using cutlery and brush their own teeth. They learn good manners and show curiosity towards visitors.
• Partnership working is strong. Leaders engage well with external professionals. They make links with other settings to support children in their eventual move to school. Parents comment that their children are well looked after and make good progress, for example in their speaking skills. Parents value the information that staff provide about their children's care and learning.
• Staff well-being is a priority for leaders. Staff report that leaders support them and that initiatives, such as 'employee of the month', help them to feel appreciated. Leaders ensure that staff keep up to date with mandatory training. However, the programme of professional development and support which leaders provide for staff is not precise. It does not sharply focus on helping them to further develop their knowledge and skills to raise the quality of their practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan and implement the curriculum with more precision, to sequentially build the knowledge and skills that children need to acquire
• strengthen the programme of professional development and support for staff, to further develop their knowledge and skills to raise the quality of their practice.