First Friends Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children at this setting demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and well-being. Staff place great emphasis on children as unique and celebrated individuals. Children demonstrate that they feel respected, loved and safe at this setting. Staff are extremely proactive when gathering information about children's home lives and cultures. There are many opportunities for children who speak English as an additional language to see and hear words in their home language. Younger children greet each other in several languages during circle time. Staff routinely teach children about different cultures and diversity in the wider world. This occurs through discussion, play, experiences and the provision of diverse resources.

A resourceful learning environment provides challenge, develops curiosity and follows children's interests. Children have a wide array of exciting, well-planned activities on offer to them. These build on what children know and excites their curiosity. For example, older children explore the meaning of evaporation and precipitation. They sit quietly, behave well and concentrate as staff create a large-scale painting of the rain cycle on tarpaulin. Children excitedly demonstrate what they have already learned. They say, 'It's evaporating. The sun makes it warmer and it floats into the cloud'. They mix the paint as it dribbles into the cloud and say 'now it's grey, it's going to rain and go back into the sea'. Staff and leaders have high aspirations for children's learning.

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

• Staff provide a curriculum that is based on children's needs and interests. For example, children enjoy playing with the cars. They use tubes and blocks to make ramps. Staff wonder out loud what else they could use to make a garage. A child draws windows and doors on a cardboard box. Together with a staff member, they consider how the structure will work. They discuss if it is strong enough and if the doors are wide enough. Children then use critical-thinking skills, alongside the practical physical skills of assembly. They create a bespoke garage that has function and form.
• Staff well-being is high on the manager's agenda. Leaders consider innovative ways to value the staff that work for them. Staff comment that they feel respected and part of a family. Staff have access to online training and regular supervision. However, on occasions, staff do not always receive incisive feedback to help them consistently raise the quality of teaching to the highest level.
• Children learn to be independent from an early age. Health and hygiene are threaded through many aspects of play. Younger children use water play to wash kitchen utensils. Older children develop this further, washing and drying plates and cups after mealtimes. Children prepare their own fruit and vegetables for snack and pour their own drinks. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. Children listen well and follow instructions from staff.
• Babies develop strong attachments with the attentive and knowledgeable staff. They pull themselves up and use staff to toddle around the room. They explore a wide range of natural and sensory resources. Staff ensure that they gather information from parents to inform children's starting points.
• Staff help younger children's communication through repetition and modelling. Small-group work and individualised learning support children to make good progress with communication and language. However, on occasions, some staff ask too many questions in quick succession. They do not always give children time to think and respond before moving on to the next question.
• The manager and staff provide an ambitious curriculum for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They identify gaps in children's learning quickly and discuss these with parents. Children make good progress in their development.
• The setting benefits from the highly experienced, knowledgeable and passionate manager. She sets high expectations for what she wants children to achieve. This includes those children with SEND or who may be disadvantaged. Leaders demonstrate integrity in distributing funding appropriately. They ensure children make the most of their access to additional early education funding.
• Relationships with parents are strong. The setting keeps parents well informed about the progress their children make. Staff make time to talk to parents at the beginning and end of the day. They use a wide variety of innovative methods to gather parents' views. For example, they have a parent board where parents write children's interests for staff to explore further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff supervision arrangements even further to offer precise support to raise the quality of teaching to the highest level
• support staff to consistently give children the time to listen and answer when asking questions.