Felixstowe Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly greeted into the homely setting by welcoming staff. They are excited when they see their friends and are keen to join in and play. The children know the routine and hang their coat on their peg, which gives them a sense of belonging. Outdoors is a fun place for the children to explore. Staff diligently set up the environment, both indoors and outdoors, to entice children to engage and discover the different areas. Children have very good imaginations and enjoy creating different games, often centred around the toy babies or the shop the staff have set up. They role play real-life situations, such as using a card machine in a till and caring for a baby. Children have a good attitude to learning and are eager to take an interest when staff talk to them about new things.

Staff are positive role models to children and, as a result, children behave incredibly well. Older children play collaboratively and negotiate sharing. Younger children are well supported by staff, who play games to teach them how to take turns and develop their skills to share.

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

• Staff are incredibly intuitive about children's needs and respond quickly to them. They pride themselves on how well they know their key group of children and the relationships they build with their families. They use their knowledge to focus on key areas of learning for each of the children in their key group.
• The curriculum centres around themes, this term is spring. The children are learning about life cycles. They are very passionate about nature and enjoy learning about caterpillars and ladybirds. 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' is a familiar story, which children thoroughly enjoy recounting both in a group or individually. They like drawing pictures and are very proud when they show staff.
• Partnerships with parents are very good. Parents speak very highly of the setting. They highlight that the communication is particularly effective. Staff offer a home visit before children start, which allows them to observe them and gain valuable insight into their interests. This information is used to provide resources to help children settle quickly into the setting. Ongoing information about children's development is shared verbally at the end of each session and parents are also invited to attend a parents' meeting to discuss their child's learning in more depth. In addition, staff make a learning journey book, which is given to the child when they leave the setting to reminisce and share their experiences with their families.
• Staff have high expectations for all children. They work incredibly hard with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to ensure that they are fully included. They have created strong links with other professionals and support parents to make referrals. Plans are followed which has a positive impact on children's development.
• Staff position themselves well around the setting so that they can support groups of children in each area of the nursery as children freely choose where to play. Every day, children participate in a whole-group session. However, it does not always meet the needs of all the children. Staff expect children to sit for quite a long time and, as a result, some disengage, which limits their time spent benefitting from purposeful learning.
• Staff introduce children to mathematics well. Staff encourage them to count items and use mathematical language in their play to compare the sizes of items. Puzzles challenge children to work out shapes, sizes and how they fit together. Staff tell the children that ladybirds have an equal number of spots on their wings. Children count and adjust their pictures, showing their mathematical knowledge.
• Staff are proactive in identifying training needs, which focus on improving their practice. They regularly have supervisions and staff carry out peer observations with feedback from peers used to strengthen their practice even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of group times to ensure that staff fully engage children to help them remain focused on their learning.