Footprints@hattonhill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from a highly successful transition programme when they join this nursery. They settle extremely quickly and arrive with beaming smiles as they confidently greet the staff and skip inside. Children who have been attending for less than a week have already built positive relationships with the staff. They confidently interact with all adults, including visitors, as they talk about what they are doing. Any children who feel anxious are given extra reassurance and cuddles from the nurturing staff. Children are confident and self-assured.

Children play happily alongside their friends. They play with 'mini me' cut out photos of themselves and the staff in their role play. Children share resources and demonstrate beautiful manners. For example, they consistently say please and thank you without prompting as they play together. Children are building positive relationships with staff and each other.

Children engage fully with the exciting activities on offer in this well-resourced nursery. They enjoy problem-solving and learning about cause and effect. For example, children clap with excitement as they let go of the car at the top of a ramp. They watch in amazement as they use pipettes to make liquid 'fizz' by adding vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Children are developing positive attitudes to learning.

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

• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are effectively supported in this inclusive nursery. Staff identify any concerns about children's progress early. They engage effectively with parents and other professionals to enable targeted support to be put in place for children. Staff act on advice from the local authority and implement strategies to support children's development. Children with SEND make good progress from their starting points.
• Partnerships with parents is a particular strength of this nursery. Staff gather detailed information from parents about their children before they attend. They communicate effectively with parents about their children's learning and development. Families who are experiencing difficulties are extremely well supported by the nursery team. Staff provide flexibility, advice and targeted resources to help meet the needs of each family. Parents say that their children love the nursery and are making good progress. They share that the staff are 'always happy' and that they 'go above and beyond to help'.
• The environment and resources support children's physical development. Children are encouraged to be physically active as they dance, climb, balance and run. Babies have many opportunities to pull themselves up as they learn to stand. Children strengthen the small muscles in their hands as they make marks with paint brushes, scoop sand into moulds and throw balls to each other. Children are developing the physical skills they will need in the next stage of their learning.
• Leaders are reflective and strive to continually improve the nursery. They identify key aspects of children's development that require more support and focus staff training on how to promote this. For example, leaders have accessed a range of professional development opportunities and advice in relation to supporting children's language development. Staff are becoming increasingly skilled in understanding how to effectively model language to children. All children, including those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language, are making good progress.
• Staff know the children well. They use this knowledge to plan learning opportunities that target children's next steps and give them the knowledge and cultural capital they will need. For example, children grow their own vegetables outside and learn about life in different countries as they play in the Spanish café role-play area. Children demonstrate that they remember what they have been taught. They confidently use colour names and mathematical language in their play. They enjoy retelling stories as they share books with staff. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Overall, staff interact positively with children as they play. They carefully consider what they want children to learn when they plan activities. However, at times, staff's focus on achieving the outcomes of the activities detracts from what the children are showing they are interested in. Staff do not always adapt their interactions and activities in the moment to reflect what children are showing they need to know next. This means that interactions with children do not consistently build on what they know and can do.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to adapt their interactions with children in the moment, so that they consistently build on what children know and can do.