Gingerbread House Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are content in this small, family-run nursery. They are comfortable in the care of staff and move around the setting confidently. Children create close bonds with staff and are happy to spend time with each other. They cheerfully greet children who arrive later in the day. Settling-in procedures are flexible. Staff gather information from parents and carers about their children from their first visit. This helps staff to understand children's needs, and children settle in at the nursery quickly.

Leaders have developed a curriculum that offers children opportunities across the seven areas of learning. They offer a balance of planned topics and activities and child-initiated play based on children's interests. For example, children are excited to explore an interesting seasonal tray of ice and polar bears based on the current winter topic. Staff use interactions to scaffold children's learning and development. For example, they set children mini challenges, such as threading small hoops onto cooked spaghetti strands to help to develop their hand-eye coordination.

Children follow the routines and know what is expected of them. For example, children put on aprons before joining in with messy activities. They remove their coats and shoes and place them away when they arrive. The day flows calmly and children behave well.

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

• Staff know children well. They carry out assessments of children's development to identify any gaps or delays quickly. Staff implement additional support and work with other professionals to ensure that all children make the best possible progress.
• Children have good opportunities to practise their physical skills. They use their leg muscles to propel cars around the garden and to kick balls. Children develop their hand-eye coordination and dexterity, such as by holding and moving pens to make marks on a drawing pad.
• Staff meet babies' care needs well. They are responsive to their needs and react quickly to ensure that babies are comfortable and happy. However, babies do not consistently benefit from the same learning opportunities that the routines and curriculum offer for other children. For example, staff do not ensure that all babies have shoes, which means some are not able to fully explore outdoors. At lunchtime, babies do not experience the social occasion of mealtimes as they sit slightly away from the rest of children.
• Staff encourage children to be independent. Children confidently wipe their own noses and feed themselves at mealtimes. Staff offer children praise for their efforts, and children smile with pride when they achieve what they set out to do.
• Children quickly develop the confidence to carry out self-care tasks, which prepares them for future success.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. Staff model lots of language throughout the day. They hold conversations with children, read stories and model new words, such as 'icy' and 'brachiosaurus'. When children mispronounce words, staff sensitively repeat the word clearly so that children can hear the correct pronunciation. Children develop good communication skills.
• The small staff team works closely together. It receives supervision sessions and engages in regular reflective discussions. Staff feel supported in their roles. However, while staff are encouraged to complete some training, this does not focus on individual areas for development to enhance their practice further.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff share information with parents about their child's routines and learning. They encourage parents to share important information with them about their children.
• Staff share resources with parents to use with their children at home. For example, children take turns to take a soft toy home for a week with his pyjamas and toothbrush. They enjoy having photos taken with the toy in their homes and on family outings. Parents and children engage in the process. This helps parents to feel involved in their children's time at nursery and helps to build solid foundations for involvement in their children's future education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine routines to meet the learning and developmental needs of younger children more consistently
• strengthen professional development plans to focus more sharply on identifying next steps for staff to enhance their practice.