Guinea Lane Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have clear intentions for what they want children to learn. They place focus on the prime areas of learning, helping children to develop the skills they need to become confident learners. Babies excitedly pull themselves up and manoeuvre their bodies onto age-appropriate climbing equipment. This helps to strengthen their stability and coordination, in preparation for walking. Younger children draw around small blocks, helping to build their hand strength. This supports children to refine the skills they need for early writing. Children shine with independence and staff support this from an early age. Staff encourage younger children to put on their bibs, and older children beam with pride, as they complete self-care tasks, saying, 'I done it all by myself.' Children progress well in their learning and development.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. Staff are positive role models, and they reinforce good manners. Staff encourage older children to begin to take responsibility for tasks, such as helping to set up for mealtimes. This supports children's confidence. Staff recognise the importance of children feeling emotionally secure, as a foundation for their successful play and learning. The well-established key-person system helps all children to form strong and secure attachments with the caring staff. This approach promotes children's emotional well-being.

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

• Staff have good awareness of how children learn. They use observations and assessments well to identify children's interests and next steps in learning. Staff plan exciting and varied activities that they know children will enjoy. For example, younger children scoop up pasta, and babies explore the texture of dough. However, at times, particularly for younger children, these are not targeted enough to children's individual next steps in learning. This means, on occasions, children lose focus, and their learning is not maximised.
• Overall, children become confident communicators. Staff who work with older children support their communication skills effectively and extend their vocabulary during regular conversations. Babies gaze in awe and begin to copy actions during song time, as staff sing and use facial expressions to capture their attention. However, at times, some staff who work with babies do not consistently talk to them about what they are doing, as they play and explore. As a result, this limits babies exposure to new words.
• Staff support children to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts from an early age. Babies show an interest in simple puzzles, and younger children enjoy confidently counting their towers from one to five. Staff use language such as 'estimate' as children guess how many salt dough doughnuts are on the tray. Children develop good early maths skills.
• Overall, outside, staff deploy themselves well. Staff extend an earlier recycling activity and purposefully drop varied materials, such as plastic bottles. Older children excitedly run around to find these, shouting out the material. Children begin to understand how to respect their environment. Children have fun riding bikes and attempt to use the slope to go faster. However, space is limited, and there are too many resources in a small area to enable children to fully benefit from the learning opportunities. This means that, at times, children struggle to maintain their focus on learning.
• Staff plan a variety of outings to enhance children's understanding of the world. Children enjoy nature walks, trips to the local park and botanical gardens. Staff celebrate children's cultures, and older children share these with their peers, helping children to learn about equality and diversity.
• Leaders use self-reflection to positively impact on the overall quality of care and learning. For example, a recent revamp of an unused area of the garden now provides children with a specific area for planting. This will deepen their understanding of planting and growing. Additionally, this space provides an outside area for staff on their breaks, supporting their well-being. Leaders provide opportunities for staff to enhance their knowledge. Recent training on 'weaning' has helped staff feel more confident when supporting parents and babies through this process.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents feel well informed about their child's learning. They notice the progress children make, particularly in their mathematics and social development. Parents comment on the diverse food choices children have and relay that staff are kind, caring and approachable.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan more precisely for younger children's individual next steps, helping to maximise their learning
• strengthen support given to less experienced staff working with babies to ensure that interactions support babies' emerging communication skills
• ensure that staff deploy themselves effectively to make full use of the outdoor areas, helping children to sustain focus on the intended learning opportunities.