Green Park Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed by friendly staff on their arrival to the nursery. They eagerly arrive, ready to start their day as they explore the activities on offer. Staff develop strong bonds and relationships with both children and their family. This enables children to settle with ease, demonstrating they feel happy and secure in this nurturing environment.

Staff actively support children's safety, health and well-being. They teach children the importance of washing their hands before mealtimes. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. Children are encouraged to share and take turns and are reminded to use their manners. Staff are positive role models. As a result, children behave exceptionally well.

Leaders and staff work together to create a unique and ambitious curriculum that aims to support children's individual progress. Regular assessments allow staff to plan activities to ensure that all children are prepared for their next stage in learning. For instance, staff support children's pre-writing skills well. Younger children develop their hand-eye coordination when posting objects into a box. Older children become engaged as they practise their fine motor skills as they explore using dough. All children make good progress from their starting points.

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

• Children start to learn about healthy lifestyles. They enjoy healthy snacks and enjoy home-cooked and nutritionally balanced meals that are cooked by the nursery chef. Children have access to daily exercise and fresh air. Staff promote children's well-being and develop their physical skills with yoga sessions. Children enthusiastically join in, create poses and laugh as they try to balance, shouting out excitedly if they succeed. This supports children to develop healthy attitudes.
• On the whole, support for communication and language is good. Staff place a high priority on developing all children's communication skills, including those who speak English as an additional language. Staff use books and rhymes to promote language and to broaden children's vocabulary and develop speech. For example, younger children remain focused when listening to their favourite story. They learn to say key words in their first language, helping them feel secure and understood. However, at times, staff do not give children the time they need to think and respond to the questions they ask. At these times, children's language skills are not fully supported.
• Children are provided with experiences that they may not otherwise have access to at home. They learn about the world around them through a wide range of visits from the police, fire service and guide dog handlers. Children develop a good understanding of the positive impact animals can have on helping others. They learn about the role of guide dogs to help people who are visually impaired.
• Overall, teaching is good. Staff plan activities around children's interests and abilities. For example, staff support older children to recognise the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. However, staff's implementation of some planned group activities does not always promote or extend individual children's learning effectively. Occasionally, these group activities are too large for all children to be involved, and they sometimes lose focus and become distracted. Consequently, at times, children do not benefit fully from the intended learning.
• Leaders highly regard the well-being of all staff. They ensure that their workload is managed well. Staff feel highly supported in fulfilling their roles. They say that working at the nursery is like being part of 'an extended family'. Leaders prioritise staff supervision and training, offering opportunities for professional development. For instance, recent language development training helps staff to support children more effectively and act swiftly on any emerging concerns.
• Parents are very happy with the nursery. They commented on the excellent support they have received from the leaders and key workers while settling children in. Parents also spoke highly of the progress their children make, particularly with their increased independence. Parents feel supported, and staff have built excellent relationships with them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children time to think and respond when engaging in conversations to help extend their communication skills further
• support staff to adapt their organisation of planned activities so that children remain engaged and learning intentions are met.