Elsecar Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders value parents' role in their children's early learning and work closely with families to give children the best possible start in life. For example, information sessions help parents to better understand how to support children's health and well-being and to contribute to their early education. Additional funding is used well, for example, to ensure that children have nutritious meals. There is a clear priority in the nursery to build children's confidence and support their emotional well-being. Staff form warm relationships with children and provide personalised support for children with a wide range of needs. They support all children very well to be healthy, to feel safe and secure and to be ready to learn.

The curriculum is centred around children's interests. Staff provide a balance of adult-led activities and opportunities for independent play. This contributes to children's motivation, and they are consistently engrossed in their learning. Staff know what children need to learn next. They involve themselves in children's play to help them to learn more. This contributes to the good progress that all children make. Children are curious and eager to learn. For example, they talk excitedly about the changes they see while observing ice as it melts. They enjoy searching for creatures in the garden and checking them off their list.

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

• Staff know children well. They observe them at play and plan carefully to help them to learn more. They quickly identify where best to focus their teaching. For example, they provide more opportunities for large physical play, such as climbing and pedalling bikes, for children who need to further develop their strength and coordination. This helps to ensure that children make good progress across all areas of learning.
• Daily, routine activities play a key role in the delivery of the curriculum. Staff involve children in 'wake up, shake up' activities each morning to prepare them for their day ahead. They support children during small-group times to develop their attention spans and listening skills. Children help to plan their day and are able to choose to play indoors or outdoors. This helps to ensure that children are able to learn in a way that matches their interests and preferences.
• Children are confident and articulate talkers. Staff have high expectations for children's language development. They involve them in lively discussions, narrate their play and model new words consistently. Children eagerly join in with songs and rhymes and listen intently when staff read to them with great enthusiasm. They develop a broad and varied vocabulary, which provides a good foundation for later learning.
• Leaders review practice and have made improvements, including enhancing provision across the nursery for children's independent play. However, although children show a keen interest in exploring, for example with paint, opportunities for them to be freely creative are, at times, limited. Some creative activities are overly directed by staff or do not appeal to the children. For example, when simple 'glue and stick' activities are repeated, children do not choose to join in or lose interest quickly.
• Staff feel valued, and their morale is high. Leaders provide staff with frequent support and supervision. Staff have access to a range of professional development opportunities. However, leaders do not monitor these arrangements closely enough to ensure that they lead to ongoing improvements to the quality of education.
• Children have an excellent understanding of the nursery's 'golden rules'. They tell adults that 'please' and 'thank you' are kind words. They share responsibility for keeping the nursery safe and organised by reminding one another to 'choose it, use it and put it away'. Alongside staff's guidance and gentle reminders, this contributes to the highly positive behaviours that children consistently show.
• The happy atmosphere in nursery is filled with praise and encouragement. Staff are extremely aware of children's individual circumstances and the impact this can have on their well-being and early learning. They are greatly attentive and sensitive to children's needs and feelings. Children form warm and trusting relationships with staff. For example, they take their hand to come and join them in their play.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance children's opportunities to explore and experiment during creative activities
• monitor and review the arrangements for professional development and focus more precisely on continuously building on the already good quality of education.