Favours Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children clearly show that they feel safe and happy. They develop positive relationships with the caring and attentive staff. Children's individual needs are met well. Children are eager to learn, and their behaviour is good. They respond well to the staff's high expectations for them. Babies are excited to listen to music and play with musical instruments. They tap the drum and eagerly use the shakers to make sounds. Two-year-olds are curious about plants and herbs. They learn to be gentle when touching the leaves to feel the textures and smell the scent. Pre-school children learn their friends' names and work very well together to build a train track.

The nursery curriculum takes full account of children's interests. Children become engaged in the activities they choose and show good concentration. They ask staff to read stories to them and join in with the familiar words. Children's vocabulary is supported well in the nursery. They learn new words as they play. For example, two-year-olds make 'telescopes' from cardboard tubes and are excited to look for 'treasure'. Babies are encouraged to babble, and staff look at them when they speak to them. Children develop confidence, independence and social skills. They seek out their friends and ask for assistance from staff when they need it.

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

• The management team work well with staff. They support and encourage staff to continue to develop their professional skills through training. The staff team have a cohesive, reflective approach to what they do. For example, changes to the planning of activities are effective. Staff know what they want children to do next in their learning. All children's next steps in learning are identified and activities provide suitable challenges that continually build on what children already know.
• Staff find out about the experiences children have at home through discussion with parents. Staff use this information when they plan activities to ensure that all children can participate in a broad range of experiences. For example, children who have fewer opportunities to play outside take part in gardening and have space to practice their physical skills, including running, climbing and kicking balls. After careful consultation with their parents, children with additional needs are supported well to safely experience messy play.
• Staff help children be ready for the next stage in their learning. Children are encouraged to be independent. Babies explore the different rooms available to them, which have lots of activities to promote their learning. For example, babies are curious about textures and messy play. They have space to crawl and pull themselves up to standing. Two- and three-year-olds choose whether to play inside or outside and they find out about the properties of glue as they squeeze it onto paper. Pre-school children serve themselves food at lunchtime and become increasingly independent in managing themselves in the bathroom.
• The staff team understand why they offer children the activities that are available. They can explain what they want children to learn from an activity and how to extend children's interest. Staff know the children very well and interactions between staff and children are overwhelmingly positive. Very occasionally, a small number of less confident staff do not fully promote children's learning as they play.
• Staff are interested in what children are doing and talk to them. Staff offer suggestions to children that help them think about what they are doing. For example, with support from staff, children work together and cooperate to build a train track. They learn to look at the holes and pegs in sections of a bridge to help them fit them together. Occasionally though, some staff ask children too many direct questions without giving children the time to think about what they want to say in response.
• Staff help children to form secure attachments and have a sense of belonging in the nursery. Babies settle readily to sleep and wake happily. Two- and three-year-olds build their confidence as they learn to balance when walking on beams. Pre-school children show resilience when they are initially unsuccessful in kicking a ball into a goal.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the practice and subject knowledge of newly qualified and less confident staff to enhance their teaching and interactions with children
• give children more time to think about what they want to say before moving on with further questions during conversations.