Grasshoppers Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this welcoming and interesting nursery. They settle in quickly and follow the routine to put their belongings away. This helps them gain confidence and be ready to learn. When younger children struggle to manage their behaviour, staff support them calmly and effectively to understand their feelings. This helps young children to learn how to behave.

The nursery had a short period of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, staff kept in regular contact with children and their families. They shared a range of activities so children could do them at home. Consequently, children returned to the nursery feeling relaxed and settled.

Children build good friendships and enjoy engaging in imaginative play. For instance, they make 'nature cakes' from recipes they create. Ingredients include twigs, berries, leaves and mud. Staff have a good understanding of child development and how activities help children learn. They thoughtfully select the resources that children can choose from, knowing they will experience essential learning as they play. For example, the rope swing is to help children gain awareness of how to consider risks.

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

• Overall, the manager has designed a well-sequenced curriculum which supports children to develop their knowledge and skills over time. Staff share her vision and plan an exciting environment with a variety of activities to support children's learning across the seven areas of development.
• Staff use a range of teaching techniques to help children develop their confidence and communication skills effectively. For example, they involve themselves in children's play and encourage children to make choices and share ideas to extend their learning. This supports children to become fluent and effective communicators.
• Staff are attentive to children and get to know them very well. They use information from their observations and assessments to plan suitably challenging experiences to promote children's development during their time at the nursery. However, at times, the planning of routines and larger group activities is not focused sharply enough to capture every child's individual needs. As a result, some children do not benefit from these activities as well as others and become restless.
• Children enjoy being creative. They learn to experiment with charcoal, water colours, pastels, oil and wax crayons and paints. Children are excited to investigate the changing textures of cornflour mixed with water and blue paint. They enthusiastically explore and investigate the 'gloop'. They use different ladles, spoons and their hands to collect, pour and measure, using words such as 'full' and 'empty' as they begin to learn about volume. This supports children to gain good skills in their mathematical development.
• Children behave very well. They follow instructions and treat resources with care. They develop respectful relationships with each other. Children enjoy puppet shows which capture their interest and provide opportunities to learn about how to manage their feelings. As a result, children learn to manage and regulate their own behaviours.
• Overall, the manager creates an environment where staff continuously monitor and evaluate children's experiences and work together to implement improvements. However, staff practice is not fully embedded, to identify and adapt teaching precisely, to build on children's knowledge and skills and support the different ways children prefer to learn.
• Children's health is promoted well. There is a strong emphasis on outdoor play. Children explore the outdoors with energy and curiosity. They visit the local park and forest daily. They decorate large branches with coloured ribbons and balance on tyres and planks, which helps them to build their core strength.
• Relationships with parents are a real strength of this nursery. Parents regularly meet at social gatherings and help out in the nursery and on outings. They receive useful information about their children's progress. Parents report that their children are very happy and settled at the nursery and they feel that they have made good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the planning and organisation of large-group activities so that teaching is successfully adapted to maximise the learning opportunities for every child
• monitor staff's practice more precisely to help them adapt teaching.