Fledglings on the Common

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery with smiles and excitement and tell staff about their time since they were last in the nursery. The nursery is a core part of the local community and families report a strong sense of belonging. Staff place children at the heart of everything they do. They work with parents to gather detailed information about the child's interests, routines and care needs before they start at the nursery.

Staff are positive role models and never miss an opportunity to praise a child's achievements or behaviour. They treat children with kindness and are quick to respond when children may need a cuddle. Staff have high expectations for the children and provide multiple opportunities for them to understand their emotions and feelings and the impact on others. Children show kindness and empathy to each other.

The curriculum is well sequenced, and in general, staff successfully implement the intention for learning. Children delight in developing growing confidence in using scissors. Staff extend this activity to cover more areas of the curriculum while providing a variety of linked experiences, such as introducing size and measure while children cut flower petals.

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

• Children get to spend plenty of time outdoors every day, and there are regular opportunities for all children to use planned learning opportunities in the outdoor space, such as sharing a story in the forest area. Children are well supervised, and the required adult-to-child ratios are adhered to.
• Staff plan and provide broad learning experiences for the different ages of children, based on the children's interests. Children have opportunities to make their own choices, as resources are at their level and accessible. This helps children to engage in purposeful play.
• Staff use recall effectively, talking to the children about their previous experiences. This helps to cement learning and allows staff and children to discuss past events while also applying the learning to new contexts.
• Children make good progress in their learning, overall. However, there are times when staff do not place sufficient focus on the skills children need to develop in order to extend their learning further. For example, during an activity, staff are unsure of the names of flowers they are looking at with children. Knowing these would help children to learn new words and extend their vocabulary.
• Staff support children's positive behaviour and act as good role models. For example, older children receive rewards for acts of kindness or achievements and delight in adding a marble into the jar. They excitedly talk about what toys they would like to have in the nursery as a reward. Children's behaviour is good. However, at times, some staff are not consistent in giving children the additional support they need, particularly during times of transition.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Parents clearly appreciate and value the personable nature of the team, especially the management team. They report a recent increase in extensive information that staff share regarding children's experiences, with the introduction of a parent app and parent evenings. This ensures that parents are more informed and involved in their child's learning and understand how they can extend this at home.
• Leaders and staff know the skills they want children to have by the time they go to school. They have worked with local teachers to identify what children need to be able to do to support them in their next stages of learning. They build children's social skills and ability to listen to instructions. Children are confident communicators and keen to share their ideas. They are well prepared for the transition to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• place greater focus on the skills children need to learn to promote their learning further
• ensure that all children receive the support they require, particularly when routines change throughout the day.