Fatemah Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff create a welcoming and inclusive environment, where all children are nurtured and well cared for. Staff are sensitive and responsive to children's needs. They provide reassuring words and cuddles to help children to settle. Staff ensure that nobody is left out of the games and activities. This helps children to develop affectionate bonds and feel safe and secure in the setting. Children are confident to make choices and play happily amongst their peers.

Staff have high expectations for children's learning and behaviour. They teach them to be kind and helpful, such as by cooperating during group games and tidying up after their play. Staff encourage children to manage their own personal care needs from an early age. Therefore, children confidently master useful skills, such as putting on their coats and eating with cutlery, before they go off to school.

Leaders and staff create an ambitious curriculum, which sets children up well for their next stages in learning. Staff promote children's early literacy skills particularly effectively, such as by using props to bring stories and songs to life. Therefore, children show a keen interest in reading and writing. For example, toddlers point to the text as they pretend to read familiar stories. Older children make marks to represent shopping lists during their imaginative role play.

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

• Leaders have worked hard to address weaknesses identified at the last inspection. They carefully monitor practice and provide sharply focused support and coaching for all staff. This has successfully raised the quality of education to a consistently high level. Staff have a clear idea of what they want children to learn and provide a wide range of exciting activities, which foster children's progress and love of learning.
• Staff observe children's development closely. They identify where children need extra help and are swift to discuss this with parents. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. Leaders ensure that they make timely referrals to other agencies when appropriate. They work closely with external professionals to develop and implement targeted learning plans. This helps to close the gaps in children's learning.
• Staff introduce children to mathematical ideas and vocabulary in fun and interesting ways. They model how to count as they sing nursery rhymes and discuss weight and volume as children fill containers with sand. Staff skilfully extend children's knowledge as they play. For example, as children create 'birthday cakes' from sand, staff show them how to divide the cakes into 'halves' and 'quarters'. Children show confidence in their mathematical knowledge and talk about numbers, shapes and measurements as they play.
• Overall, staff promote children's language skills well, which helps them to become confident communicators. Staff sing frequently with babies and toddlers, introducing the sounds, rhymes and rhythms of speech. They also share books with children, providing a broad range of vocabulary. However, staff do not always consider how to encourage children to recall and use the new words that they hear. For instance, by asking more 'open-ended' questions rather than those which require a one-word response.
• Staff help children to develop healthy habits for later life. They provide healthy meals, oversee good hygiene and encourage plenty of physical activity. Children discover it is fun to be active. Babies are motivated to practise their large muscle movements as they crawl through tunnels and tackle steps on the indoor apparatus. Older children are keen to develop their physical abilities further. They set themselves challenges, such as balancing over stepping stones or jumping from one to the other.
• Staff generally support children's behaviour effectively. For instance, they remind them of expectations, such as sharing toys and taking turns. Therefore, children know what to do and overall, behave well. Staff are quick to help children to solve disagreements. However, they do not consistently support children to regulate their own behaviour, such as by discussing how to manage their strong emotions.
• Leaders and staff value their partnerships with parents and carers. They provide lots of information about the curriculum and what children enjoy. This includes regular newsletters, photos and assessments of children's learning. Parents comment on the highly individualised care and attention their children receive, which helps them to settle and enjoy their time in the setting. They greatly appreciate staff's advice on matters such as children's language development, behaviour and toileting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to build further on the opportunities for children to practise using new vocabulary
• support staff to be more consistent in helping children to regulate their own behaviour.