Golden Star Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome as they enter the nursery. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, parents have not regularly come inside. However, staff now invite parents in to share stories and other experiences with their children on a regular basis. This is one way that staff help children to feel secure and happy. The manager and staff have good ambitions for all children's learning. They ensure that the educational programmes reflect children's interests and build on what they need to learn next. This helps all children to make good progress in relation to their starting points in learning.

Overall, children settle to sleep easily. Occasionally, when some children find it difficult to settle, caring staff support them. They use gentle strategies to soothe and help children to feel more comfortable. This supports children's well-being. The manager and staff help children to behave respectfully and cooperatively with each other. Children take turns to hand out cutlery at lunchtime, and pour themselves and their friends drinks during other mealtimes. They often thank each other with 'high fives' and kind words. Children show positive behaviour and attitudes to their learning.

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

• Staff skilfully use props to excite children when reading simple stories. In the toddler room, staff set out resources on the floor, including bricks, wood, straw, shaving foam for cement, pigs and other farm animals, to link in with the story about three little pigs. Children happily use the resources and repeat refrains from the story. This supports children's listening and speaking skills.
• Young children choose songs to sing. Staff sing quietly and model the actions to nursery rhymes. Children engage, smile and laugh as they sing a song about five little ducks. This helps to build on children's early literacy development.
• Staff's support for children's independence skills is variable. Pre-school aged children cut their own fruit at lunchtime. However, staff do not always understand how to prepare the environment to help children consistently manage their self-care skills independently. For example, when pre-school children use the toilet, staff are usually available to support them but the toilet roll which children need is not always in easy reach.
• Overall, staff plan nursery routines to support children's learning. However, at times, these routines can disrupt the time which children have for their play and learning. For instance, children are sometimes unnecessarily taken from their play to have their nappies routinely changed. This does not help children to engage more fully and extend their learning even further.
• At times, staff do not fully support children to learn to think critically. For example, when staff and children talk about what happens to the colour of sand when water is added to it, staff answer their own questions. This means that children do not consistently have enough time to think, respond, make mistakes and solve problems for themselves.
• Children have opportunities to develop their physical skills. Babies and young children use the small muscles in their hands to pick up small objects, such as rice and oats. Toddlers fill and empty containers in the water tray and pre-school children use pipettes to mix colours. These opportunities have a positive impact on children's developing bodies.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENDCo) works effectively in partnership with outside agencies and parents. Staff ensure that all children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support to help them effectively close gaps in their learning. This has a positive impact on the quality of education that all children receive. The manager uses additional funding to support disadvantaged children's learning. For example, they use funding to support training for the SENDCo role.
• Parents feel supported by the manager and staff. They confidently ask staff for tips about child development, particularly around sleep and positive behaviour strategies. The manager and staff communicate effectively with parents. They share information each day about their children's individual learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and adapt routines to help children engage in their play and learning to the highest levels
• plan the environment more consistently, so that children can develop their independence and self-help skills, especially during personal care times
• support staff to enhance their understanding of allowing children more time to reflect and respond, so that they build on their thinking and problem-solving skills even further.