Ferry Road Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery happily, secure in the knowledge that they are safe and secure. Warm and trusting relationships are evident between the children and the adults. Children often seek comfort and reassurance from their key person. Children learn to share and take turns. For instance, they use a timer to wait for their turn on the trampoline and share the water to paint the play house. Children know how to behave and follow the established routines. On the rare occasions children misbehave, staff carefully explain why particular behaviours are not acceptable.

Children of all ages enjoy sharing books with each other and with the adults. They curl up in the cosy book corners to share stories and rhymes. Children can concentrate for lengthy periods of time and have positive attitudes. The youngest children look at the pictures and help to turn the pages. Older children make comments about the characters and join in with repeated refrains. In the pre-school room, children engage in activities related to their favourite stories, such as pouring tea for the tiger. Outside, children ride bicycles of appropriate size and enjoy playing on the see-saw. This helps to support their physical development.

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

• Staff have strong partnerships with parents, who are complimentary about the level of communication and the availability of staff to discuss their children's needs. Key persons plan children's next steps and provide advice for parents to support their child at home. Information about children's learning, progress and care are recorded via the online system, which parents can also use to make comments and contributions.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are effectively supported. Staff work with parents to identify children with additional needs. Where necessary, the special educational needs coordinator seeks further advice and support from external professionals, which is followed. Staff make adaptations to each room to ensure that children with SEND have equal opportunities to participate in all activities.
• Staff regularly monitor the progress of their key children and plan appropriate activities, based on children's interests, to address gaps in learning. This helps to ensure children make good progress. However, occasionally, they do not make the activities challenging enough to meet the specific needs of the children.
• Staff meet regularly with the manager to discuss their practice and well-being. They are given constructive feedback to help them improve their practice. Staff performance is further enhanced by additional training, such as therapeutic behaviour management, to develop knowledge and skills.
• The managers and committee are reflective. They are actively seeking grant funding to improve the outside area. They have plans to create a sensory walk and improved facilities for the children to garden and grow their own fruit and vegetables. This helps to support children's understanding of the environment and healthy eating.
• Staff have forged good links with schools and other settings children attend. They share information about children's learning and progress to help to ensure consistency of care. Children are well prepared for school. They can manage their own self-care. Children can use simple tools independently, such as scissors. In the nursery, when children are due to move rooms, discussions are held between parents and key persons to establish next steps. This helps to ensure that there is a consistency of care and learning.
• In the baby room, staff encourage children to name common animals and items. Staff speak clearly and at the child's level to enable them to see the movement the mouth makes when forming different words. As children move through the nursery, their communication and language skills are well developed. Staff question children effectively, encouraging more detailed responses. At times, staff do not give children enough time to think about and express their ideas, before supplying an answer.
• Children have good opportunities to strengthen the muscles in their fingers to help with early writing. They manipulate a range of equipment, such as modelling tools. They cut and roll the dough to make stars, worms and slugs. Children relate their current learning to previous, remembering that worms live in the soil and comment that this helps them to 'keep warm'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider children's specific learning needs when planning activities to ensure they consistently and precisely target these and provide challenge
• allow children time to respond to questions before supplying a response.