Gilderdale Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in this welcoming and thoughtfully resourced nursery which promotes their learning and development, both indoors and outdoors. As they arrive, they are welcomed by enthusiastic and nurturing staff. They access the nursery through key-coded doors, which helps to keep the nursery secure. Staff are sensitive to the emotional needs of children and know them well. Children confidently share their ideas with staff and involve them in their play. Children are ready to learn because they feel safe and secure. For example, when children require reassurance, staff use strategies that effectively settle and help sooth them. This enables them to regulate their emotions and settle quickly.

Children are given the opportunity to explore and follow their own interests. They engage in the wide range of stimulating activities and resources that spark their curiosity and interest. Staff are responsive to children's interests and follow their lead as they help them extend their knowledge and skills through sensitive teaching. As a result, children show positive attitudes to their learning. For example, older children persevere as they try to balance dominoes to build a domino run. Babies work hard at trying to jump using both feet after watching their friends.

Staff are good role models and children understand the high expectation that staff have for them. They are kind and caring and provide children with a great deal of purposeful praise. Children play very well with their friends. They speak respectfully to each other and take turns as they share resources. For example, children share resources to build towers and take turns with gently brushing a staff member's hair in the home corner. Older children ask younger children if they are ok when they lose their balance on the grass. This results in children being confident and capable learners who are well prepared for their next stage of learning and eventual move on to school.

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

• Staff use observations and assessment effectively to identify what children already know, can do and enjoy. They plan a range of learning activities and experiences that support children achieving their next steps in learning.
• Staff provide activities that help children develop their mathematical knowledge. For example, children practise using number language and develop counting skills as they play with the dominoes. Children are encouraged to compare size as they measure their muddy footprints. Babies explore capacity as they fill and empty containers enthusiastically.
• Children demonstrate a love of stories and support children to extend their vocabulary. For example, staff sing songs with babies and listen to the sounds of instruments. Staff playfully bring stories alive as they stomp through muddy puddles with children and recite, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Children explore mark making in dough and draw plans of the enclosure they are constructing. As a result, children develop good early literacy skills.
• Staff work effectively with wider professionals and access specific training to support children's progression. For example, staff work closely with speech and language therapists to learn strategies and plan activities for children. They have undertaken emotion coaching to support children who struggle to regulate their emotions. This ensures that children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.
• Overall, staff support children well in developing good communication and language skills. They ask children purposeful questions and give children thinking time to respond as they chat together. However, during group activities, staff do not consistently provide some children with the attention and support they require to extend their skills further. For example, during some group activities, more confident children dominate conversations and staff attention. This means that not all children get the attention they need to support progress.
• Children's independence is promoted well. Babies learn to feed themselves and use cutlery skilfully. They also put on their wetsuits before going outside and pull off their socks to paddle in the water tray.
• Children develop a good understanding of healthy eating and where food comes from. They help to grow vegetables and talk about all the vegetables and fruit they enjoy eating. Children skilfully show off their manipulation skills as they crack the eggs they have just collected from 'Aggie' and 'Chick', stating how 'chickens lay eggs'. They reflect on how they can now crack eggs because they have 'practised' and add them to the cake they are making.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents say their children enjoy attending and 'the staff are wonderful'. Overall, staff communicate effectively with parents about their children's day and share ideas of how to support learning at home. However, this is not yet fully embedded. This results in not all parents being aware of how they can support their child's next steps in learning, especially around speech, language and communication.
• The manager is passionate about her role and puts a strong emphasis on staff well-being. She has constructed a strong management team around her to help drive forward the setting's vision for high-quality inclusive provision. Staff express they feel valued and well supported in developing their roles. This results in an enthusiastic united team of hard working staff, who share the same values and are committed to providing high-quality care and education to children.
• The manager evaluates the quality of the provision well. She seeks feedback from parents, staff and children and works closely with the team to design and plan an ambitious curriculum based on children's interests and what they need to learn next. There is a strong focus on helping children to become confident and resilient independent learners, which prepares them well for their later transitions to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• work even more closely in partnership with parents to support children's learning at home
• support staff to refine their practice during group activities, so that all children's speech, language and communication development is raised to the highest level.