Flo's Nature Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are active learners who enjoy playing outside. They fully engage in planned yoga sessions where staff encourage them to re-tell familiar stories through physical movements. For instance, children stretch their body as they pretend to reach high to pull apples from trees and bend low to pick imaginary strawberries from plants. They are happy and enjoy learning as they burst into giggles when they spin around pretending to be caterpillars spinning a cocoon around their bodies. Children remember life cycles as they recall how caterpillars turn into butterflies.

Children are well cared for in a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where staff know them well and respect their individuality. Children flourish in their personal development. Staff implement a range of superb experiences that promote children's understanding of people and families beyond their own. Children learn about each other's backgrounds and celebrate what makes them unique. For example, children say 'hello' to each other in English and then repeat in children's other home languages. Parents state how the nursery has a 'real community feel' that is 'magical'.

Children of all ages select books that staff place carefully in all environments, such as 'cosy' areas outside. They show excitement as they recall familiar nursery rhymes with their friends. Children develop good levels of independence, particularly in their self-care skills. This helps to prepare them well for their eventual move to school.

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

• Staff know the children well. They use their knowledge of children's interests and development progress to plan a curriculum that follows children's interests and extends their development towards all areas of learning.
• Staff model language well. They identify what children already know and show a good understanding of the sequence of language development. Staff implement effective visual aids, such as picture cards, to help increase their communication with children. All children are making good progress in their speech and communication, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Children show a true love for living things. They enjoy exploring natural areas of the garden to find and care for insects. For instance, they collect leaves to feed snails they find. Children closely observe tadpoles swimming around the small home-made pond. Staff closely supervise children and introduce new vocabulary, such as frog spawn. Children are developing a strong understanding of the life cycle of frogs.
• Staff provide children with fantastic support to identify and express how their own body feels. Children learn how to control their body in a range of different ways. For instance, children tell staff that they are removing their wellington boots because they are making their feet feel uncomfortable.
• Staff help to prepare children for life in their community and beyond. They help children to learn about respecting others and develop their understanding of the similarities and differences of the friends and staff around them. Children engage in a range of rich experiences to understand how different people live and how they celebrate.
• Children throughout the nursery are happy, settled and confident. They enjoy the time they spend at nursery, making good relationships with staff. Children behave well and mostly play happily alongside their friends. Staff identify any disputes between children promptly and act calmly to help them understand right from wrong.
• Staff share information with parents about their child's progress and most parents know what staff are planning towards their child's next steps in learning. However, some parents are not always clear on what is next for their child's learning and how the setting would like them to support these areas at home, to extend children's outcomes to the highest levels.
• Staff speak positively of the support they receive from the manager. They have regular meetings where they can discuss their ideas and plan professional development. Staff are clearly enthusiastic about their work. They say that they feel part of a team and value their colleagues' support and advice. The manager undertakes regular supervision of staff and observes their interactions with children to help improve their teaching practice. However, further work needs to take place to ensure that workloads are manageable for all staff and any coaching is differentiated for the varying levels of staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the information shared with parents further to help support children's learning even more consistently at home and at the setting
• enhance the procedures for coaching and mentoring different levels of staff to help them to manage their own workloads and increase the quality of education and staff supervision to the highest levels.