Early Days Nursery School Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have a strong eagerness to learn. They show intrigue and interest in anything and anyone new. They openly ask questions, curious to know how things work and why they work. Staff actively support children to gain new skills. They interact with them positively and promote learning in all areas of development. For example, children take a great interest in the birds feeding outside. At the same time, they wave to passers-by, talking about who they know in the village.

Children develop the skills to manage their own needs. Younger children explore, making decisions as to what to play with. They develop skills to feed themselves at snack and lunchtime, using simple tools. Older children learn to put their coats and shoes on to go outside, following simple instructions to learn to flip their coats over their heads. They talk about washing their hands after outdoor play and before meals, showing an awareness of good hygiene. They confidently wipe their noses with tissues, putting them in the bin afterwards.

Children develop close bonds with their key person as well as their peers. They gain reassurance from staff when experiencing new activities for the first time. They share their achievements proudly and eagerly support their friends to achieve the same. For example, children proudly show staff and their friends that they have written the first letter of their name. They find the first letter of their friend's name, sounding it out for them.

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

• Children relish time in the outdoor play environment. They are excited to share their regular walks in the local community and the woodlands. Staff incorporate all areas of learning into their outdoor experiences. For example, children recall the amount of tractors they have seen, where they saw them, and the animals encountered on their journey. Children show a great appreciation for the outside world and enthusiastically share their experiences with their peers.
• Children confidently learn to communicate their needs. Babies babble away freely with staff, using repetitive sounds to encourage further verbal communication. Children openly communicate using expressions, such as surprise, puzzlement and happiness. They continually use gestures to exaggerate their speech. Older children use more complex language that has been introduced by staff, mainly through focused activities. For example, children confidently explain the dots on sheep's backs are to show how many lambs they are having.
• Babies learn to experiment and explore in their play. They freely explore the play environment available to them. Staff initiate new learning strategies, such as heuristic play. However, staff do not always have a clear knowledge of the learning intention for new strategies and practices to make the activities fully effective for children's development.
• Children learn to negotiate and share in their play. Staff are positive role models, who highly support social skills and good manners. Children invite their friends into their play. They take turns with bikes and large equipment, showing each other their physical skills at propelling them along. Children learn to experience social activities, such as mealtimes. They eat together, sharing conversations about what they are eating as well as their likes and dislikes.
• Staff are eager to improve and to continue to develop their practice. The management team is keen to continually evaluate the effectiveness of staff practice and support this through an ongoing training programme. However, some changes in practice are not fully evaluated to identify the training and development staff need to support children to their fullest potential. For example, younger children now play alongside older children. Staff have not fully appreciated the different strategies they need to engage all children in one activity, with regard to their different levels of development.
• Children make links with other people in the community to provide experiences that they may not gain through home life. Staff provide children with learning activities, experiences and conversations about how other people live. For example, they celebrate children's visits abroad to extended families and how this differs to their friends' lives.
• Parents make very positive comments about the care their children receive and the achievements they make. Parents comment that their children's dual language is celebrated. They recognise how children's confidence is supported. They appreciate the bonds their children have with staff and the impact the outdoor learning environment has on children's physical well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend staff's knowledge of learning initiatives to ensure that the impact is more effective for children
• develop staff's skills to promote children's individual stages of development more precisely within adult-led activities.