Handkerchief Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this welcoming nursery. Even the youngest children show excitement as they get ready to play in the exciting outdoor environment. Staff provide supervision and support as pre-school children use their muscles to climb trees and rope ladders safely. Babies access activities which have been thoughtfully placed at different levels to encourage them to gain confidence when on their feet. As a result, babies pull themselves up and independently access sand and water play. Staff and toddlers work together to create an obstacle course. Toddlers develop their balance, taking turns to jump in and out of hula hoops carefully. Staff suggest more hoops would make the obstacle course longer. Toddlers eagerly search the play area, gathering more hoops for their friends to use.

Pre-school children readily work with staff to make play dough. Staff talk to children about the ingredients they are using to make the dough smell. For example, children learn that the flower they are using is named 'buddleia'. Children follow instructions, carefully using spoons to lift out flour from a packet and cups to measure out and pour water and oil into large bowls. Staff encourage children to work with friends and help each other mix the ingredients together with wooden spoons. This helps children learn to cooperate with others and helps develop the muscles they need for early writing.

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

• Leaders and managers have taken a positive approach to addressing the weaknesses raised at the previous inspection. They have developed staff practice to ensure a secure understanding of risks that children may be exposed to in the environment. In addition, staff now ensure group time with children takes place in appropriate spaces in the nursery. This has helped support children's safety and their good health.
• Staff provide activities in the daily routine to help children develop their early independence skills. Pre-school children are encouraged to take turns serving themselves at lunchtime and pouring their own drinking-water. Staff help toddlers learn important self-care skills, such as wiping their noses with tissues and washing their faces and hands after mealtimes. This helps children do as much as possible for themselves.
• Staff know their key children well, including what makes them unique. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff determine appropriate next steps and understand how to embed these within children's play. However, at times, staff do not deploy themselves well enough. This means children sometimes lack the support needed from staff to engage in meaningful learning and play.
• Staff develop positive relationships with parents. Parents say staff provide regular feedback on their child's progress. They say their children are excited to attend the setting and have made early friendships. Parents state that their children are developing in confidence and language skills. They feel their children are well supported and ready for the next stage in their education.
• Staff help children to develop their language and communication skills. During play, babies readily babble back and forth with staff as if in simple conversation. Toddlers are thrilled as they search outside with staff to find bugs. Children are helped to understand where the bugs live and how to be careful with them. Pre-school children experiment by mixing salt in water. They notice the salt has disappeared, and staff explain the salt has 'dissolved'. This helps develop children's growing curiosity about the world around them.
• Overall, staff are good role models. They encourage children to use their manners and share resources. Children remember and follow simple rules. For example, children politely ask for an adult to supervise them when using the trampoline. However, some staff do not always help children understand what is expected of them. On these minor occasions, some staff wait for more confident staff to deal appropriately with unwanted behaviour, or they give in to children's demands to appease them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the deployment of staff to provide consistent and purposeful interactions for children, which build on their existing skills and knowledge
• help staff to understand and implement consistent behaviour management strategies, which build on children's understanding of behaviour expectations.