Golden Stars Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter this welcoming nursery and settle quickly. They form close bonds with staff, who know them well. Children are confident to chat to staff and they share pleasant conversations over mealtimes. This builds children's communication skills and widens their vocabulary. Together they explore the number of seeds they find in an apple core, and children make plans to plant them. Staff encourage children to make predictions about what might happen to the seeds. This builds children's critical thinking skills and helps them to understand the world around them.

Children make regular trips out into the local community. They have fun as they use nets to chase and pop bubbles in the nearby park, building on their physical skills. They visit the post office to buy envelopes for the letters they write and then take the letters to the letterbox to post to their families. These real-life experiences strengthen children's knowledge for use in the future and help to develop early writing skills. Parents say children talk about these experiences at home. This helps to consolidate their learning between home and nursery. It also sparks conversation with their family members, so they can practise their language skills at home too.

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

• Managers have made significant improvements to the nursery since their last inspection. Their adaptable attitude has seen a positive impact on the hygiene and safety of the environment. A daily maintenance log means any issues are quickly identified and resolved.
• Staff feel well supported and say their opinion is valued. Leaders encourage staff to contribute to the changes and future vision of the nursery. Staff regularly peer review their teaching techniques and self-evaluate their own practice. There is further scope for managers to make better use of the monitoring of the quality of teaching to improve it to the highest level.
• Managers and staff have built an inspiring and sequenced curriculum that builds on what children already know. Children are well supported with achieving their next steps and make good progress in their learning. Staff complete training to improve their understanding of how to teach the curriculum more effectively. However, staff are still developing these skills. There are occasions where they do not give children enough time to think and respond following a question.
• A highly effective buddy key-person system is in place. They work together to ensure there are always two staff members who know each child's interests and next steps. This means there is always someone present who knows how to assist the learning of the children. Every room also has a board with key information about each child. This supports all staff to adapt activities for children they might be looking after. This means children are always working on the areas they need to, and it helps to close their gaps in knowledge.
• Children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. The well-trained special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works well with other professionals to ensure children get early identification and help. She makes sure all children with SEND have an individual target plan, which she shares with staff. There is a designated sensory room for children to have daily one-to-one time with the SENCo. This means children get focused support and make good progress with their learning.
• There is a strong focus on communication and language. Staff make good use of singing and nursery rhymes to widen children's vocabulary. They use small props to engage children in a 'what's in the box' singing activity. This helps children to stay focused and behave well. The use of real fruit and vegetables in the shop stimulates more language as the children smell and feel the textures as they play. This heightens their senses and encourages children to use their imagination.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of the monitoring of staff teaching to improve the quality of practice and enhance the outcomes for children even further
• allow more thinking time for children to respond to the questions they are asked, so they can be challenged to the highest level.