Great Expectations Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and have strong attachments to key staff. They turn to the highly nurturing staff for emotional comfort and reassurance, showing that they feel safe and secure.

Highly motivated leaders and managers provide a broad and extremely ambitious curriculum. They support staff to excel in meticulous observation, planning and assessment processes, which ensure that any gaps in children's learning or concerns about development are quickly identified and action taken. All children make excellent progress and are well prepared for their transition to the pre-school.

Staff communicate with babies exceptionally sensitively. They use facial expression and gestures alongside well-paced talk so that babies listen and learn new words and intonations. Staff provide interesting resources for non-mobile babies, such as a basket of balls, and babies show deep curiosity as they handle and explore the variety of different sizes, colours and textures.

Children eagerly play outside and learn to take risks and solve problems, such as when they move large tyres around. Staff encourage toddlers to use large movements with their shoulder and arm muscles as they paint expansive patterns with big brushes. This helps children acquire more strength and control of their bodies. Toddlers learn the names of small creatures they excitedly discover under pots. They pick and smell lemon balm leaves as food for a 'special' worm and are very careful not to tread on it. Children learn to respect and care for living creatures.

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

• All staff support children's communication and language development exceptionally well. For example, when toddlers pretend to use a telephone, staff join in and extend the talk into a turn-taking conversation, challenging children's recall and promoting their imaginative ideas. Staff are extremely skilful at introducing new words and concepts. For example, staff talk about going 'fast' and 'slow' when very young children go on rockers. They repeat the word 'fast' when those children joyfully run up and down and when splashing dinosaurs in the water. Children learn the meaning of new words swiftly.
• Staff show consistent respect, and they value what children do and their efforts to try to do things by themselves. They patiently sit alongside older babies who attempt to put their shoes or boots on, gently encouraging them through the process. Staff praise toddler's growing independence skills at lunchtime when they serve themselves and use cutlery. This helps young children develop a strong sense of pride in their achievements and this boosts their self-esteem and confidence.
• Children benefit from a range of exciting outdoor trips in the local community. For example, they go to shops armed with their shopping lists of ingredients for making soup. Toddlers have forest school sessions, where they explore the natural environment, make collections, learn new skills and play in mud. Babies visit a local orchard, where they can lie in the grass and look at trees or crawl about in the long grass. These rich experiences support the children's health and well-being superbly well.
• Parents say the friendly and kind staff show genuine care for their children. They have complete trust that staff keep their children safe and support their well-being. For example, staff and parents agree timings and strategies before children move between rooms or over to the pre-school building. They are pleased with the excellent communication channels and opportunities to become involved in their children's experiences. Parents highly value the varied and nutritious meals prepared by the chef.
• Leaders and managers support the well-being and professional development of staff exceptionally well through access to high-quality training and highly effective supervision. Leaders recognise the individual strengths and talents in the team. For example, staff who are musical inspire children to sing, move to music and learn about different instruments, such as a guitar and violin. Staff, who are forest school leaders, inspire children to make the most of their experiences in the woods. Other staff bring creative ideas about art, such as children's wonderful transient art with natural materials. The consistency of the exemplary practice has a positive impact on children's learning and development.