Four Woods Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager and excited to come to nursery. They settle quickly and are well supported by their nurturing key persons, who know them well. Children enthusiastically play with the wide range of resources available to them both inside and outside. They develop a love of rhymes and books. They independently choose books to look at, pointing at the pictures and recalling the story. Adults skilfully use sign language and pictures to help children to understand routines. Children demonstrate what they know and can already do. For example, they use signing to express their needs as their language develops.

Children behave well. Staff provide clear boundaries and role model their expectations to children. This helps children to follow rules and keep themselves safe. Staff provide children with good levels of support. Consequently, children are increasingly independent and develop good self-help skills. For example, adults support children to put their socks on by showing them how to do this. Children show determination and motivation to succeed.

Children make good progress from their starting points. Staff promptly identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and provide support to meet their needs. Children learn about their community and take trips to the local park for a picnic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they also made trips to the local library and town. Managers and staff plan to reintroduce these trips next year to broaden children's experiences further.

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

• Parents comment that they feel well supported by nursery staff, who support the children to settle quickly and help them to develop new skills. Parents know who to speak to for advice. They appreciate the extra support the setting offers, such as close links with the nearby children's centre.
• From an early age, staff encourage children to ask for help when they need it. This provides opportunities for adults to support children to develop their independence, communication and confidence skills. Staff praise children often, such as when they follow instructions and engage in positive acts of kindness.
• Staff have a good understanding of how children learn. They plan activities and organise the environment based on children's interests and needs. Staff enable children to practise their skills in an enjoyable and interactive way. Children persevere in achieving their targets and celebrate their successes.
• Children are taught about their feelings and how others might feel. They are encouraged to share and take turns. Adults model turn taking and provide the language to help children develop friendships.
• A good range of sensory resources encourage children to develop their own ideas. For example, some children enjoy making a 'birthday cake' using play dough, feathers, pine cones and numbers. Others explore texture by pushing the pine cones into the dough. Staff introduce new vocabulary, which the children repeat during the session.
• Children learn about how to look after their teeth to keep them healthy. They pretend to clean the teeth of their pet toys with a toothbrush. Children learn about what an unhealthy tooth looks like. Staff encourage children to make healthy choices to support good oral health.
• Overall, staff understand children's needs well. They provide a broad curriculum that helps children to make progress. However, at times, staff do not adapt activities to help children learn as much as possible. For example, some group activities are too long and children lose concentration.
• Children learn to count and recognise numbers from an early age. They develop good mathematical language such as 'one more' and 'how many' during play and snack routines. Children show an interest in number problems.
• Staff plan and promote talking and listening for all children. However, they do not always provide enough opportunities for children to develop their early literacy skills, especially for those children who are ready to learn more.
• Managers have developed robust systems for recruitment and induction of staff. They ensure that staff's workload is manageable. There is an established training system for continuous professional development. Managers provide regular supervision and support for staff to improve their practice. This helps to benefit children's learning.
• Children make good progress from their starting points. They are well supported when moving between nursery rooms and later on, when they go to school. Children feel safe and secure.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the organisation of group activities to help children develop their concentration and enhance learning throughout the session
• plan further opportunities to help children develop their early literacy skills.