Finkley Weeke Nursery and Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. Staff use their comprehensive knowledge and understanding of each child's development to move them on in their learning. They work well as a team to meet children's individual care and learning needs, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Staff act as excellent role models for children. They consistently engage in children's play and encourage them to 'have a go'. Children keep on trying, such as when they learn to use scissors to cut paper shapes to make pictures of trains. Children behave well. They happily and independently share the resources with others.

Staff have recently created a quiet, comfortable space for children to engage in one-to-one and small-group activities. This supports children to develop their vocabulary and ability to concentrate during activities, including games such as 'what's in the box?'

Children enjoy regular outings in the local community that help them to learn about the world. They often visit a local farm, where they learn about animals and how to care for them. On the day of the inspection, children were excited about an outing to the local train station, where they learned about travel and transport. Children use their imagination and learn to play percussion instruments in different ways when a music teacher visits the nursery.

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

• Managers and staff are highly committed to continually improving children's care and learning. They have worked really hard to build strong partnerships with parents to meet children's individual needs. They regularly invite parents into the setting to build trust and open communication. Managers send parents a weekly newsletter with detailed information about forthcoming activities, which includes how they can support children's learning and development at home to promote continuity.
• Managers welcome opportunities for staff to receive team training that builds their knowledge and professional development. Managers have provided training that has improved staff understanding of how to incorporate children's next steps for learning into activities. As a result, staff skilfully adapt the curriculum to meet children's individual needs, including children with SEND. Recently, all staff completed play-based training, which has enabled them to develop a receptive and adaptable approach to managing children's behaviour.
• Staff value and seek children's ideas. Each week, they send parents information about children's interests and suggestions for future activities. They encourage parents to use this information to help their children vote for forthcoming themes and activities. Consequently, children are motivated and active learners.
• Staff support children well to develop and use a wide range of vocabulary. They encourage children to talk with them and learn and use new words, such as when they play imaginatively on a train created from chairs. However, staff do not consistently provide all children with the support they need to engage with others during their play, to further extend their social skills.
• Staff enthusiastically join in with children's play. They skilfully extend their learning and adapt activities according to children's stage of development. They provide books and related resources that link to children's individual interests and capture their interest in listening to stories.
• Staff support children well to learn about colour and shape. Children confidently name the colours of the rainbow on a sign in the garden. However, staff do not always respond to children's interest in number during other activities, to further challenge and extend their mathematical development.
• Staff support children well to develop the skills they need for the future. They encourage children to do as much as possible for themselves. As a result of improvements that have been made to the organisation of children's mealtimes, children have increased their independence. They now serve themselves food at mealtimes, clear the table and wash up their plates and cutlery.
• Staff value the languages children speak at home. They introduce different approaches to support and extend children's communication skills. They are currently asking parents to record words in their home languages, which they plan to use to develop all children's awareness of difference.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's skills in recognising and responding to opportunities to build on children's interest in number and support their mathematical understanding
• develop staff knowledge of how to support and develop all children's interaction with others, to further build their social skills.