Garth Under Fives Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The staff are sincerely happy when they welcome children as they arrive. This helps children to feel like they belong, and they settle in quickly. Children are confident and engage in activities of their choosing. Staff demonstrate respect for the children and lovingly support them as they learn and play. They know the children well. Staff talk to children about being kind and considerate as they show empathy for one another. For instance, when children become momentarily upset, staff praise other children for recognising this and for showing care and concern for their friends. This supports their personal, social and emotional development well.

Staff support children to develop a love of books. They read to children with enthusiasm, which captures their interest and engrosses them in the story. For instance, children give staff a book to read and sit down and listen intently. The staff point out the different facial expressions of the characters in the book. They encourage the children to think about how this shows what they are feeling, and they share back and forth interactions about feeling happy, sad, and content. This is in line with the curriculum intent of recognising emotions and feelings and effectively supports communication and language development.

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

• Managers are committed to their roles. They understand the value of reflecting and evaluating their provision. This helps them to continually improve and make necessary enhancements where needed. Managers closely monitor practice and appreciate the staff's views and opinions. Staff express their training and well-being is supported well. They are provided with opportunities to develop their skills and speak encouragingly about the benefits that recent training has had on their practice. This effectively supports the care and education the children receive.
• Managers and staff have created a curriculum that is well suited to support the children's current needs and growing abilities. This is designed to build on what children know and supports them to achieve their future learning goals. The intention of learning supports children to make good progress in their development.
• Children are allocated a key person to support their care and learning needs. The children have formed strong relationships with the person that knows them best. The key person helps children to settle in and gathers valuable information about their starting points. This supports staff when tailoring children's learning that help them to develop. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Staff work with relevant agencies and parents, and together they devise plans that help children make the progress that they are capable of. This supports children to become successful learners.
• Overall, staff effectively engage children in group-time activities. They are enthusiastic in their interactions and encourage children to join in. However, at times the planned activities do not fully reflect the needs of the youngest children. They sometimes find it challenging to concentrate for the whole activity and become distracted as they lose focus. During these times, the youngest children do not benefit from learning that is precisely targeted in line with their abilities.
• Staff effectively risk assess the environment to ensure the safety of children. Through their practice, they teach children safety techniques and offer guidance. For example, while reading a story, staff highlight the characters that are sitting around a fire. They extend the children's thinking by discussing the danger of fires and why they must not go too close. Children think about this intently and staff extend their thinking and talk about being safe around barbeques and fireworks. This inspires conversation and children learn how to keep themselves safe.
• Generally, staff support the children's behaviour well. Children are polite and listen to what they say. They follow simple instructions and directions given to them by staff. However, staff are not always consistent when reinforcing the children's understanding of expected behaviours. They do not always follow through with what they have asked children to do, such as picking toys up they have tipped on the floor or running in the room. This does not fully help children to learn what is right and what is wrong.
• Parent partnership is effective. Staff share learning goals with parents, offer guidance and support for how children can continue their learning in their home. With regular meetings, parents are kept up date with where their children are at in their learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the planning of group activities for the younger children to engage them more fully
• support staff to consistently implement strategies to fully support children's behaviour and their growing understanding of rules and boundaries.