Elestar Services Ltd T/A Flying Start Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they feel happy and safe in this welcoming environment. For example, on arrival, they quickly separate from their parents as a friendly member of the staff team greets them. Children form strong relationships with their key person. They go to them for support and to share their interests. For instance, toddlers show staff the creations they have made from dough and pasta. Staff respond, saying, 'wow, that's amazing. Let's take a photo.' This helps children to feel emotionally secure and gives children confidence in themselves and their abilities.

Staff have high expectations of children's achievements and behaviour. Children join in with the routines and follow the boundaries. Staff support children to manage their own emotions and encourage them to show kindness and respect to their peers. Older children look for their names on their place mats and patiently wait to serve their own lunch. They show care for each other and thoughtfully remind staff when their friends need a plate.

Children enjoy the motivating activities and resources staff provide for them. Younger children show perseverance and well-developed physical skills as they happily dress baby dolls. Older children laugh with their friends as they race small trucks up and down the garden.

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

• Staff promote children's communication and language development well. They introduce new vocabulary and skilfully check that children have understood these unfamiliar words. Staff talk to babies and toddlers about what they are doing and the objects they are playing with. Young children have fun repeating back new words staff are teaching them, such as 'stomp, stomp' and 'squelchy, squelchy'.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is very effective. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with staff, parents and children to ensure that children get the right support at the earliest opportunity. The manager and her team work closely with professionals to successfully deliver specific support and teaching strategies to individual children. This targeted support enables all children to make progress in their learning ready for their transition to school.
• Staff use their secure knowledge of child development to deliver a range of meaningful and exciting learning experiences. They provide a balanced curriculum based on what children know and can do. Children show excitement and happily engage in the carefully planned activities and make good progress in all areas of learning. However, the organisation of the day does not always enable enough opportunities for older children to independently investigate and explore, to embed and extend their own learning to its full potential.
• Children have many opportunities to explore the local community and learn about the world around them. They visit the train station, go on walks to the park and regularly borrow books from the library. Staff arrange visits from the police, a dentist and a vet.
• Staff encourage children to develop healthy lifestyles. Children benefit from nutritious and balanced food and learn about good dental hygiene as they clean their teeth. Children experience weekly yoga sessions and have daily opportunities to be physically active, inside and outside.
• Staff teach children how to take safe risks in their play and learning. For example, children use drills, saws and hammers. They tell adults that they are wearing safety goggles so that 'we don't hurt our eyes'. These experiences provide children with important skills and confidence to help them move forward on to the next stage of their learning journey.
• Parents are very positive about the care and support children receive. They talk about the setting's 'homely feel' and how approachable staff are. They appreciate the regular communication they receive about what children are learning and the progress they are making.
• The manager and her deputy have effective systems for staff supervision and supporting staff's ongoing performance management. This helps staff to continually review and enhance their knowledge, supporting them to provide quality teaching experiences and maintain good outcomes for children.
• Staff consistently use positive language to help children understand the routines and boundaries of the setting. Children listen well, follow instructions and show respect for staff and each other. For example, they listen to their friends answer questions about the story and wait for their turn to say good morning during morning registration. However, staff sometimes miss opportunities for older children to make choices and decisions for themselves, to help them learn how to express their thoughts and opinions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enable more opportunities for older children to independently investigate and explore, to consolidate and extend their own learning to its full potential
• support and encourage older children to participate in making choices and decisions for themselves to help them learn how to express their thoughts and opinions.