Elizabeth Saunders Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff work hard to create a warm, friendly and nurturing home-from-home environment for children. They are extremely patient and respond kindly to children, who thrive in their care. Staff are positive role models and have high expectations for all children. They provide children with opportunities to learn how to manage risks for themselves. For example, staff encourage toddlers to safely use steps to reach the sink. Furthermore, older children excitedly engage in risk assessment and look for potential hazards in the garden before outdoor play. Children receive lots of praise and encouragement, helping them to feel valued.

Staff support children to develop confidence and high self-esteem. Babies seek out staff for reassurance when new visitors arrive, whereas older children talk to unfamiliar adults with ease. Furthermore, children demonstrate a real sense of belonging as they discuss the routines of the day. Consequently, all children have a positive attitude to their learning, and their behaviour is very good. Leaders and staff implement an effective educational programme, which builds on children's prior skills. The curriculum is carefully sequenced from the baby room through to pre-school to extend what children already know. This helps to prepare children for each stage of their education, including their eventual move on to school.

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

• Communication and language development are a core focus during children's time at the nursery. Staff sing nursery rhymes with all children to develop their knowledge of rhythm and rhyme. In addition, staff model lots of new vocabulary. For instance, during story time, staff introduce words such as 'author' and 'illustrator' as they discuss the components of a book with older children. Children develop the skills they require to be confident communicators.
• Children of all ages have access to an interesting variety of mark-making opportunities. Babies enjoy using toy cars to make circles in the sand. Older children enjoy tracing letters with their fingers during circle time. These exciting experiences help children to develop a love of mark making and early writing.
• The curriculum for physical development is a key strength. For example, children have good fun in the garden daily. Here, they practise their coordination and balancing, such as when they crawl through tunnels and run up hills. Furthermore, as babies explore their environment, staff encourage those children who are not yet walking to pull themselves up and take their first steps. Consequently, all children demonstrate good physical dexterity.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Parents and carers are very complimentary about staff and the care their children receive. They comment that the nursery has a strong family feel. Furthermore, staff provide regular information to keep parents informed about their child's care and learning. Staff provide ideas for parents to build on their children's learning at home. For example, they provide books and resources, such as story sacks, to encourage children to read at home. This supports the continuation of children's learning.
• Generally, staff teach children about healthy lifestyles and to manage their self-care needs independently. Children learn about hygiene practices, such as washing their hands after using the toilet. However, staff do not always ensure that messages around hygiene are consistent. For example, sometimes, staff and children do not wash their hands after wiping noses. Therefore, children are not consistently supported to understand about healthy lifestyle habits.
• Overall, staff teach children well about the world around them. Children enjoy learning about some festivals and celebrations, such as Christmas. However, they do not have many opportunities in their everyday play to explore diversity and learn more about the differences and similarities in themselves and others. This means that children are not always consistently supported to develop a clear understanding of their own and other cultures to best prepare them for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders value the importance of providing support and training to staff, who report that they are happy and well supported in their roles. Leaders take time to observe staff's practice and to provide feedback on strengths and how staff can improve further. However, leaders do not always use this information to target training that specifically builds on what staff know and need to learn next to support children's learning even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to ensure that children receive consistently clear messages around hygiene practices so that they build on what they already know and continue to develop healthy habits
• support children to gain a better understanding of similarities and differences between themselves and others
• reflect more closely on staff's professional development to help target training that fully contributes and supports children's learning.