Girls & Boys Nursery Dunsbury Way

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children separate from their parents with ease as they happily enter this friendly and welcoming nursery. They greet staff with a smile as they run over to their friends. Children display a strong sense of belonging and show that they feel safe and secure. For example, they cuddle up with staff and ask questions about the activities on display. Staff listen well and answer questions enthusiastically, showing genuine warmth and kindness.

Staff implement a fun and stimulating curriculum, which focuses on children having fun while they learn. Staff carefully consider children's next steps in learning. They use the information they identify to plan targeted experiences to help close gaps in learning. Leaders use additional funding to support individual children's needs. Staff work with outside agencies to plan specific targets to assist children's development. Staff ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, get the support that they need. All children make good progress from their starting points.

Staff ask children what activities they would like out. Children become excited as they select water. They laugh as they tip water into the mouths of pretend sea animals. Children say the animals are, 'drinking it all'. Children laugh and giggle as they deliberately splash each other as part of a game. They help staff to clean up the water after the activity has ended, and they receive praise from staff. This helps children to demonstrate a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

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

• Staff have established a clear curriculum, which is sequential and interesting for all children. They consider children's starting points and tailor their curriculum accordingly to cover any gaps in learning. Staff prioritise developing children's attention and listening skills. They provide fun activities that involve children having to listen and explore new ideas. For example, children choose which colour paint they would like to 'splat' onto paper, while repeating the word 'splat'. This helps children to focus and keep trying, helping to gain these important skills for later learning.
• Staff focus on guiding children to develop their vocabulary. They narrate as children play and ask questions to encourage conversations. Children have the time they need to think and respond. Staff speak clearly to the children and repeat words, so they hear the correct pronunciation. They consider when children have speech and language difficulties and encourage them to use visual methods to make their needs known. For instance, children confidently choose simple picture cards to give to staff to ask for help. Children develop good early communication and language skills.
• Children sit together at mealtimes with their friends. Staff talk to the children about the importance of eating healthily and staying hydrated. Children demonstrate that they know the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods and that, 'Ham is protein and makes muscles strong.' However, at times, staff are not deployed effectively to support children well with routine hygiene tasks. This does not fully promote children's ongoing health and hygiene.
• Leaders monitor and support staff well. They have regular meetings with staff to review their progress and celebrate achievements. Leaders promote staff's professional development and provide a variety of training opportunities. For example, staff have attended a course on basic sign language, and they use it when communicating with children.
• Generally, children behave well. They listen to and follow instructions that staff provide. However, on occasion, children display signs of unwanted behaviour. Although staff react to this behaviour and intervene to support children, they do not always help children to understand their behaviour or how they can improve it. For example, when children throw sand at friends, staff ask them to stop. However, they do not help children to understand the possible consequences of throwing the sand.
• Staff support children who speak English as an additional language to develop their language skills and sense of belonging in the nursery. For example, staff work with parents and ask them to provide words in their home language. They then share these words with children, helping them to feel valued in the nursery.
• Staff have developed strong partnerships with parents. They feel well informed about their children's developmental progress and receive advice from staff to support their children's learning at home. Parents speak highly of the care provided by the staff and praise how well they know their children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff deployment when supporting children with hygiene routines to ensure that their health and hygiene are consistently promoted
• develop further staff's understanding of using consistent approaches when managing behaviour, helping children to begin to recognise the impact of their behaviour on others and understand what is expected of them.