Early Years Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children come into the nursery with pleasure and enthusiasm. They independently follow established routines, hanging up their coats and bags. Children eagerly greet their friends and staff alike. They are happy and clearly feel safe and secure in this friendly and nurturing nursery. Children behave well. Where there are disagreements, staff deal with these sensitively and skilfully. They encourage children to speak about their feelings, supporting their understanding of how their actions impact on how others might feel. Children demonstrate a willingness to share and take turns. For example, when playing with bubbles, children hand the bottle to a friend saying, 'your turn'. They play collaboratively together, excitedly finding the 'king' scorpions in the soil and discussing the part of the scorpion that stings, which the children call 'stingers'.

Children are provided with a healthy diet. They understand the importance of eating healthily. Children are developing good oral hygiene practices, cleaning their teeth after lunch. Outside, children have wide ranging opportunities to develop physically in the fresh air and in an indoor soft-play area. Outside, they practise their balancing skills and use the ride-on toys and bicycles to skilfully negotiate the space to avoid crashes.

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

• Parents speak highly of the nursery and its staff. They value the regular and detailed information they receive, as well as the availability of the staff to discuss any concerns they have. Parents appreciate the advice and guidance they have to support learning at home, such as home learning bags, the lending library and the information evenings. They say their children settle well and are happy in the setting.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are well supported. Staff engage with parents to ensure consistent strategies are used at home and in the nursery. Staff seek the advice of external professionals and this helps to support the good progress these children make. Staff use additional funding effectively.
• Staff prepare children well for the next stage of their education, including school. Children learn to independently manage their personal care. They listen and follow simple instructions. Children enjoy listening to stories and will often curl up in a cosy corner with a favourite book or listen to poems and songs.
• Overall, staff know their children well and have high expectations. They plan interesting and engaging activities, based on children's interests, which helps to support good progress. Occasionally, staff are not clear enough about what they want specific children to learn, to ensure that activities consistently meet the needs of all children and help to extend their learning.
• Children's communication and language skills are developed effectively. Staff talk to children in clear voices to help support accurate pronunciation. Children enjoy activities relating to poems and stories. For instance, they read a story about a hedgehog and create their own hedgehog from modelling dough. Staff extend children's vocabulary, introducing words, such as 'spiky.'
• Children learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others. For instance, they read stories about other cultures and recognise that some people use wheelchairs to aid their mobility. Parents, and others from the local community, bring clothes and food from their home culture for children to see and sample. Children learn about community services and were delighted when the police visited and showed them the police van and its gadgets.
• Leaders reflect on practice well and have a comprehensive improvement plan in place. Staff are receiving training to support the further development of their knowledge and skills. Staff benefit from regular discussions with the manager to discuss their training needs.
• Staff provide a wealth of opportunities for children to engage in mark making to help support early writing skills. For instance, children relish painting with several paintbrushes at once, creating thick paint to make further marks in. Children paint outside walls with water, run cars through the sand and mud, draw conventionally and use different implements to make marks in the soil. Children make lists and write recipes for their 'cooking'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to help them understand how to more effectively focus curriculum planning on the intent for children's learning.