Ferndown Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The friendly and caring staff help children to feel settled and secure. They welcome children enthusiastically and interact fully with them throughout the day. Children of all ages move about confidently and make decisions about what to do. They are busy and engaged in what they are doing. For example, older children concentrate on colouring in dots with paint and cotton buds, and younger children enjoy exploring the properties of sand. Staff remind children of all ages about the expectations for their behaviour and help them learn to share, take turns and be respectful of one another.

Staff work with parents to find out what children can already do when they start and then carefully assess their ongoing progress. This enables them to plan and provide effectively for what each child needs to do next. Staff also build on children's interests to engage them fully in their learning. For example, when some children play with the puppets, staff show great enthusiasm and put on an impromptu puppet show, much to the children's delight. Staff provide well-targeted support for those children who need additional help. They work closely with parents and other agencies to ensure that they understand what each child requires and how to support them fully. Children of all ages and abilities make good progress from their starting points.

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

• Staff know children well and confidently describe what they need to learn next to continue to make good progress. The owner/manager empowers staff to do their own planning for the children in their key groups. They use their thorough understanding of each child, what they are interested in and how they prefer to learn. They provide appropriate activities to support children's learning, although these are not always as exciting as possible in order to fire children's curiosity and enhance their drive to learn.
• The effective staff team delivers a varied and effective curriculum which covers all areas of children's learning and helps them to achieve. Staff support children's learning well, giving lots of praise and encouragement and asking questions to extend what they are doing. For example, when children play with a ball, staff ask how high they can throw it, and when they bang pots and pans, they ask if the individual pans make different sounds. Staff interact well with children, chatting to them and talking about what they are doing.
• Most children become articulate speakers who talk confidently to their friends and to staff. They develop their speech during large-group activities, such as when identifying pictures showing different emotions. They talk about what makes them 'happy' and 'sad'. Staff introduce new vocabulary during activities, such as 'sprinkle' when toddlers play in the sand. They provide effective support for those children who need extra help to communicate, using guidance from speech and language therapists and providing a language-rich environment.
• Children learn about the boundaries for their behaviour, such as not climbing on their chairs and sitting down while drinking. Staff consistently remind them about being kind to others and being gentle. Children listen to, and follow, instructions well. For example, when staff tell them it is time to go inside due to the heat, they do so willingly.
• Children learn to wash their hands before eating and after using the toilet, and staff follow effective hygiene procedures indoors. However, when they are in the garden, they do not clean their hands after wiping children's noses, which does not fully prevent cross-infection. Staff ensure that children wear sun cream when playing outside and bring them indoors when the sun is too hot. Children have sun hats to wear outside. However, staff do not consistently remember to ensure that they wear them. This does not fully support children to learn how important it is to stay safe in the sun.
• Staff have good partnerships with parents, which ensures a joint approach to children's learning. They share information with parents about their child's progress and what they need to do next. They give them ideas about how they can support their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide further support for children's well-being, with particular regard to remembering to ensure that they wear the available sunhats and consistently taking steps to prevent cross-infection when outdoors
• provide more exciting and inspiring activities that spark children's curiosity and further enhance their learning.