Emeralds Little Gems Daycare - Stanley Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff place children's learning at the heart of everything they do. The curriculum has a clear focus, particularly on children's speech and language development, and is sequenced well, overall. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress in their learning. Staff plan a wealth of experiences to support children's communication skills, including one-to-one sessions for children who require them. For example, staff use a song bag with animal puppets and encourage children to join in with associated rhymes and songs. Children nod their heads in response to the singing and concentrate well throughout. Staff use effective strategies, such as counting up to three, so that children know when the singing will begin.

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

• Staff support children's speech and language development superbly. They model language, speak very clearly to children and use other effective strategies, including communication boards, to help children to build their vocabulary. Funding, such as early years pupil premium, is used to enhance children's language skills further. Experiences, including going on outings and visits in the local area, are planned.
• Overall, staff have a good understanding of how to support children's early literacy skills. They provide activities in the outdoor area, such as painting with sticks and paint on the fence. However, some activities planned by staff do not fully support children's age and stage of development. For example, children are encouraged to copy over a script in order to write their name, before they are developmentally ready for this type of learning.
• Children develop positive attitudes towards their learning. They persevere even when tasks become difficult. For instance, during a group activity when children made fruit kebabs, children persisted with a safety knife and managed to cut through the skin of an orange. They were really pleased with their efforts when they managed to cut a slice. They then removed the flesh and gave it to their friends.
• Children with SEND are supported very well in the nursery. A wide range of professionals work alongside staff to implement effective strategies to support children's learning. Funding is used very well and is targeted towards individual children's needs to support them to make progress.
• Children's independence is promoted well throughout the nursery. For instance, staff support children to pour their own drinks at snack time and to wash their hands before eating or handling food. Children show they are proud of their efforts and have beaming smiles when they achieve the task.
• Overall, children engage very well in their learning. Staff plan effective activities that support children to develop the skills and knowledge they will need when they start school. However, some activities, particularly those delivered at group time, are not sufficiently planned to engage all children. This has an impact on the progress some children make.
• Staff feel very supported by the manager. They are provided with good opportunities to progress professionally and enjoy the challenge of meeting their own targets. Innovative measures to improve staff's skills are in place. For example, staff have opportunities to visit local SEND provision to observe practice and learn new strategies to support the children in the nursery. Following this, staff now place photos of the children on their chairs so children know which chair is theirs.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents who provided their views for the inspection talked positively about how well their children are supported. Their comments included 'staff go above and beyond' to support their children. Parents take an active part in their children's learning and enjoy activities, including looking after the nursery bear when children bring this home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff knowledge further of all the developmental stages children go through before they are ready to hold a pencil with a correct grip
• ensure group-time activities are planned appropriately to engage all children and enhance their learning further.