Grasmere Nursery and Tadpoles Baby and Toddler Unit

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are welcomed into the setting by friendly and supportive staff who are passionate about what they do. Their emotional well-being is promoted to an exceptionally high standard, ensuring children have the opportunities and support to build strong attachments with staff and feel safe in their environment. Staff are gentle and caring. They provide comfort and security for children, by offering cuddles and reassurance. Staff are skilful at recognising and validating children's feelings, helping them to feel understood and valued. Young babies are gently rocked to sleep in staff's arms, helping them to feel secure and gain trust with new adults. Staff know children exceptionally well. They understand children's individual personalities, celebrate their differences and know how children learn best.

Children's behaviour is exceptional. Staff offer cues to give children a warning of change of routine. For example, staff ring a bell and sing, to notify children that it is snack time. Children listen carefully and follow staff's instructions, helping to tidy up the toys from the table. When children do become distracted staff quickly intervene, giving them clear instructions and refocusing their attention. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), develop an excellent understanding of the expectations at the setting. All children quickly learn and adapt very well to changes in their routine.

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

• Staff ensure that children's physical development is well-sequenced and supported to a very high standard. Babies climb confidently up the steps and are provided with walking aids that help them achieve important milestones quickly. Older children climb and balance on the climbing frame outdoors, negotiating space and balancing across obstacles. They quickly develop their spatial awareness, as well as their fine motor strength, as they explore the play dough and use a variety of tools to experiment with.
• Staff provide learning opportunities that spark children's interests and love of learning. Babies watch with awe and wonder as the bubbles float through the air. Staff model language, such as 'pop', 'rainbow' and 'bubble', and children excitedly pop the bubbles as they fall. Young children demonstrate a remarkable level of engagement in their learning.
• Children's literacy skills are supported from a young age throughout all areas of their play. Children access a wide variety of books that are displayed across the setting. They enjoy looking at books independently and staff read stories and share their enjoyment when talking about the pictures. Children begin to recognise their name and develop a love of writing as they use a variety of tools to draw and make marks.
• Children show deep levels of engagement in role play as they explore the toy kitchen area. They practice essential social skills, including cooperation, sharing and interaction with their peers as they make 'dinner' for their friends and 'wash up the plates'.
• Staff provide a vast range of learning experiences that extend children's communication and language skills especially well. One-to-one and small group intervention sessions ensure children who need it receive additional support in this area. Larger group singing activities help to extend children's vocabulary and promote their language skills. Children demonstrate they are exceptionally confident communicators through conversations with their peers and adults alike.
• Staff teach children about their emotions and children develop a deep understanding from a very young age. Young children make links between expressions and words, learning to name their feelings. Staff support this further by signing and young children demonstrate their excellent understanding as they use Makaton signs to communicate with staff about how they are feeling.
• There is a specialist provision for children with SEND and they are given the highest standard of care and education. Children's needs are identified quickly, and additional support is sought. Staff work closely with outside agencies, set appropriate, yet challenging targets for children and provide one-to-one intervention daily. Furthermore, staff are mindful of children who will be accessing mainstream school and ensure they are well-prepared and ready for this next stage in their learning.
• Leaders commitment to improvement is highly evident. There are robust procedures in place for supervision and ongoing observations of staff practice are carried out. Leaders highlight areas for improvement quickly and implement action plans to ensure the highest standards of care and teaching are provided for all children.