Greencoat Nursery at Billesley Ark

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this welcoming, friendly and inclusive nursery. They leave their parents and carers with ease and settle quickly to their chosen activities. Staff provide children with an interesting environment that sparks their curiosity. For instance, children enthusiastically explore herbs and flowers, using them to push and poke into play dough. Children develop their own thoughts and ideas as they start to form animal shapes and make animal noises.

Children learn effectively about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Staff members are highly committed to supporting children to develop healthy eating habits. For example, children are consistently supported to try new foods. Staff skilfully encourage children to get involved with the preparation and serving of snack. Children understand the importance of drinking water to remain hydrated, and remind each other to do so. Staff teach children, through play, about the importance of oral health. Children are proud to tell staff that they have cleaned their teeth at home.

Staff ensure that children have the opportunity to make choices in their play. The interesting learning environment ensures that children can see what is on offer and enables them to lead their own play. For example, children negotiate rules and take on pretend roles in the thoughtfully resourced home corner.

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

• The manager and staff are extremely passionate about the care and education they provide for children and their families. As a team, they regularly meet to discuss the curriculum and each individual child. Staff carefully think about the skills and attributes they would like children to achieve before they move on to the next stage of their education. This then feeds into the opportunities and learning experiences they provide.
• Staff are exceptionally committed to their own professional development. The manager is an excellent role model and encourages reflective practice. She expertly enables staff to become highly involved in decision-making, and together they consistently drive improvement.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from the knowledge and skill of the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). She acts promptly and with integrity to ensure that children receive the support they need. The nursery works in successful partnership with external professionals to enable children with SEND to make the best possible progress.
• Children benefit from spending long periods of time engaged in outdoor learning. Staff provide a range of interesting and open-ended materials in the garden. They skilfully engage children in many opportunities to develop their physical strength and stamina through active play. Together with staff, children visit the large common adjacent to the nursery every day. They look for bees and butterflies, and delight in splashing in puddles.
• Staff support children's development of communication and language. They ensure that children hear the correct pronunciation of words and extend their vocabulary through a varied range of experiences. However, when asking questions, staff are sometimes more intent on their own agenda, such as asking about numbers and colours, than following children's play. This can somewhat interrupt children's thoughts and responses. That said, children develop as confident and thoughtful communicators.
• Staff use thoughtful teaching methods to support children to acquire and practise new skills. They are excellent role models and ensure that care routines are respectful and unhurried. This enables children to develop excellent self-care skills. Staff provide gentle instructions and appropriate support to encourage children to carry out tasks for themselves.
• Staff provide high-quality experiences for children to learn about the world around them. For example, children are fascinated by the tadpoles when returning to nursery after the Easter break. Older children happily share their knowledge of the life cycle of the frog with their peers. They delight in seeing the transformation that has taken place.
• Parents are happy with the service provided. They comment positively on the trusting and respectful relationships that staff develop with the whole family. Children arrive happily and staff persevere to ensure that they become settled and secure during their time at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to ask more appropriate questions in response to children's play, to extend learning even further.