First Steps Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The experienced and longstanding staff team create a warm and nurturing environment, where children feel safe and confident. Staff are responsive and sensitive to children's emotional needs, offering children cuddles when needed for comfort and reassurance. New children settle quickly and form strong bonds with staff. Staff know children well and tailor the curriculum to their individual needs. They work effectively as a team, planning purposeful next steps that build on each child's starting points. Staff collaborate with professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to implement support plans. They share children's next steps in learning with parents and carers via an online app, which also allows parents to share the milestones their children achieve at home. This collaborative approach helps all children make good progress.

Children explore their environment with enthusiasm and curiosity. Babies immerse themselves in sensory play. They crawl through the floor-level sand tray, using their whole bodies to experience its texture. Children are absorbed as they stretch and jump to pop bubbles cascading from the bubble machine. Children show kindness and celebrate each other's achievements. They beam with pride when staff cheer and clap them and their friends, such as when they complete trickier tasks like jigsaw puzzles. This creates an inclusive atmosphere, where everyone feels valued.

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

• Leaders demonstrate an effective oversight of children's learning. They review staff's assessments of children's development to identify and address any gaps in their learning. Leaders make improvements through ongoing professional development for staff. They use additional funding effectively to support children's learning at home, such as providing activity packs for families. As a result, children make good progress across all areas of development.
• The setting's curriculum aims to support children's independence. Babies drink from lidded beakers, and toddlers feed themselves with cutlery. However, staff sometimes complete tasks for older children, such as peeling their yoghurt pot lids or putting on their aprons. This limits the opportunities for children to practise the self-care skills needed for their future stages.
• Staff introduce fun experiences for children, such as cornflour and water in a large tray. They play alongside children and initiate conversations that promote children's learning. For example, staff talk about how the consistency of cornflour changes from 'solid' to 'liquid', when it is exposed to warm temperatures. Through these meaningful interactions, staff extend children's knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts.
• Staff model communication and language through their interactions with children. They introduce new vocabulary, such as the names of sea creatures, during water play. They sensitively support children's pronunciation by repeating their spoken attempts. Leaders arrange for external professionals to visit monthly to lead interactive singing and signing sessions. However, staff overlook the impact of continuous background music on children's developing listening and speaking skills.
• Staff foster a love of books. There is a mini library available, which staff use to encourage children to borrow books and enjoy them with their families. Staff read to children in an engaging manner throughout the day. This promotes a growing enthusiasm for stories.
• Generally, the setting promotes healthy lifestyles. Staff offer a nutritious and healthy menu, and children have opportunities for daily physical exercise. Additionally, the setting takes part in initiatives, such as an oral health programme, which includes older children brushing their teeth after lunch. However, staff do not consistently encourage babies to wash their hands before eating snacks. Therefore, all children do not receive consistent messages about how to keep themselves healthy.
• Staff show a strong commitment to inclusion by adapting activities to ensure that all children can participate. Staff respond swiftly and sensitively to children needing additional adult support to be able to join in. This promotes a sense of belonging and enables all children access to all the learning opportunities on offer.
• Children show consistently positive behaviour. They follow routines, respond to expectations and display politeness and patience as they wait for their turn to join in with activities. Staff reinforce these qualities with lots of praise. As a result, the setting has a calm atmosphere that supports children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support children to understand the importance of good hygiene procedures more consistently across the setting
• aid children's communication and language development further, such as by reducing background noise
• provide more opportunities for children to develop their independence and self-care skills.