Greenfields Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children thrive in the nursery. They eagerly join in the exciting opportunities for learning and become deeply involved as they make new discoveries. Staff help babies to develop strong communication skills as they identify different animals and practise the different sounds they make. Babies giggle with delight as they recognise a toy horse and make clicking sounds to represent horses' hooves. Staff give babies close and caring attention, which helps to build their emotional resilience, and babies have very strong attachments to their key person. Babies are held and rocked with great care, and warmly comforted when they are tired or upset.

Staff expertly check that children have secure existing knowledge before moving on to new ideas. For example, children confidently explain that they believe that heavy items sink in water and light objects float. They are fascinated when a light plastic bottle sinks. Staff encourage them to explore why this happens and they predict, test and conclude that this must be because the bottle filled with water. Children are very secure in what they already know, but they are thoroughly ready to try out new things and test out their own ideas. Children are highly independent and confident, which builds great resilience in readiness for school.

Children behave exceptionally well. They are kind and considerate to staff and each other, and readily help their friends to complete tasks together. For instance, children eagerly take part in tidying-up activities. They carry boxes of resources back to storage areas, helping each other to carry heavier items. All children learn to listen to each other and are highly respectful of each other's ideas.

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

• The nominated individual, who is also the manager, is highly reflective and insightful regarding her own, and staff, practice. She has a really thorough oversight of planning, assessment, safeguarding and other aspects of the nursery. Her very clear understanding of the future direction of the nursery helps her to make clear plans for how she intends to get there. She expects the best from her staff and gives them great support to reach their potential. Clear recruitment, induction and training procedures ensure that staff are suitable, highly knowledgeable and skilled for their roles. Staff feel very well supported. They thoroughly enjoy their work and are confident to share any concerns they have with management, as their views will be considered.
• The key-person system is highly effective in practice. Staff know their key children very well, what children have already learned and what they need to know next. Staff use this to build on children's existing skills and all children make very strong progress from their starting points. Staff thoroughly understand each child's needs and ensure that all children's needs are met. Children's safety is of the highest priority. Staff all have a thorough understanding of how to keep children safe and they ensure that children are safely supervised and well supported at all times.
• Parents give the nursery the highest praise. They particularly highlight how robustly the setting supports their children's emotional needs, how caring the staff are, and the considerable progress their children make during their time at nursery. They share how special the setting is and how well the staff have supported their children where there are any potential delays in their development. Staff commit to giving all children, regardless of their level of need, the same high-quality access to excellent learning opportunities and experiences.
• Staff have a great deal of fun with children, and their enthusiasm and commitment to play gives children a great sense of enjoyment in learning. For example, staff introduce new books with great excitement, explaining that there are 'lots of lift-up flaps, and a pop-up surprise!' As staff bring such enthusiasm to the story, children are transfixed by the book and focus extremely well. Staff also give many chances for children to ask questions, with plenty of time for them to consider and respond, supporting them to recall their existing knowledge and build on what they already know.
• Staff plan and deliver activities and experiences that test out whether children have learned what they want them to know. For example, children are fascinated by the caterpillars that they have hatched from eggs. They recall that the caterpillar will eat their own egg for food and point out the holes where they are eating the nettle leaves. When reading a story, children point out that the caterpillar in the book did not eat their own egg, demonstrating their confidence to challenge where they have other knowledge.