Growing Minds Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this welcoming and safe learning environment. They are inquisitive learners and staff support children well, providing them with good levels of challenge. Staff are knowledgeable about children's next steps in learning, what they want children to learn and why. Staff keep parents well informed about their children's development, including sharing ideas of how best to support their learning at home.

The curriculum is ambitious and builds on children's existing knowledge and skills. Staff make sure they remain flexible in their approach to include anything that sparks the children's interest. Children follow up on their own ideas and staff are skilled at supporting them in doing so. Staff ensure that they bring in the key skills that they are focusing on for each child and adapt their practice according to each child's differing ability.

Children are kind and considerate towards one another. Staff do a lot of work talking to children about feelings and exploring their different emotions. They encourage children to use language to express how they feel and to discuss and agree ways to resolve any disputes. This helps children to learn about others' feelings and how their behaviour may have an impact on others. This has been a real focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

• Children are provided with good levels of challenge. Staff have a good grasp of children's abilities. They understand how best to support children to make good progress in their learning and development. Staff capture children's interest and imagination.
• Pre-school children enjoy learning more about the world around them. They learn to use tally charts to count ladybirds and compare with their friends who has more or less. They use magnifying glasses to count the number of spots and discuss why ladybirds have spots. Staff introduce children to new words and their meanings, such as 'poisonous'. They talk about the spots acting as a warning to other 'predators' that might want to eat the ladybirds.
• Staff working with babies encourage them to try new experiences, build on their knowledge step by step and develop new skills. They respond well to children's verbal and non-verbal cues and repeat words back to them to encourage language development. However, on occasions, some staff in the baby room are not consistent in following agreed approaches to best support children.
• Children are good communicators. They use language well to talk through their experiences and to describe what they plan to do next. Staff listen to children and allow them time to process any questions and respond in their own time.
• Good arrangements are in place for children who may require additional support with their speech and language. Small-group work and one-to-one support enable children to develop their speech and build their confidence to talk in larger groups.
• Children are developing a love of books and visit the local library. A newly introduced nursery book loan scheme allows children to take books home to enjoy with their family. Children recall the stories back at nursery and describe what happens and what they enjoyed most about the book. Older children also learn to use books for reference. They learn that ladybirds have wings folded underneath a protective casing that opens to reveal them. Children talk about how this 'keeps the wings safe' from getting broken.
• There is good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work well in partnership with professionals and understand how best to support children. Funding is used where it will benefit the child most and support their learning and development. For example, funding is used to provide one-to-one support or to purchase specific resources and equipment.
• Routines to accommodate children's needs work well in practice, except for lunchtime in the baby room. For example, sometimes babies are seated before their food is ready to be served, resulting in some children becoming upset and unsettled.
• The strong leadership team has a clear understanding of the setting's strengths and any areas for development. Leaders are committed to making improvements, and staff are actively encouraged to attend training. The provider has a good oversight of the curriculum and is proactive in evaluating and monitoring practice, including the quality of teaching. This benefits children's care, learning and development and ensures any gaps in learning are identified quickly and systems put in place to address this.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in the baby room to follow agreed approaches so that young children benefit from consistency in their learning and high-quality teaching is maintained
• consider how lunchtimes are organised to ensure that babies are not sat for long periods waiting for their food.