Happy Days Nursery Derriford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children develop warm relationships with kind and nurturing staff, who know them well. They make good friendships with other children and regularly invite their friends to play with them. Staff encourage children to be inquisitive and learn through experimenting. Children carefully fill containers with water and watch what happens as they pour it onto plastic ramps in the woodland area. They engage well with activities and listen carefully to staff. The nursery is calm and purposeful, and a happy place for both children and staff to be.

Leaders have a clear and ambitious vision for providing high-quality care for all. They carefully consider what children need to know now and next. Staff support children to take part in a wide range of learning opportunities, including those that develop their understanding of the world around them. Children benefit from taking part in walks around the local area and learn about looking after the environment through practical activities, including litter picking. Staff ensure children are well prepared for important transitions, such as moving from the baby to the toddler room. They forge good links with local primary schools and help children to prepare for moving through a variety of activities. Children particularly delight as they dress up in school uniforms and pretend to be at school in the role-play area.

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

• Leaders have designed a broad and rich curriculum. Overall, it meets the needs of the children in the nursery well, particularly in developing their resilience and independence. However, staff do not always implement the curriculum in the same way across the nursery, and children do not always receive the same opportunities linked to their interests to ensure consistency in their learning.
• Staff support children to develop their early literacy skills very well. They provide daily high-quality group learning times across the nursery to support children of all ages to develop their language and communication skills. Younger children engage very well in singing nursery rhymes with staff and confidently ask for more songs. Older children learn how to count syllables in words and take part in 'listening walks' to support their ability to distinguish sounds.
• Staff supervise children well as they play and ensure that they are happy. However, while staff interact well with children most of the time, they do not always develop children's play further to extend their learning and understanding.
• Staff support children well to regulate their emotions. Children learn to recognise and name their feelings through age-appropriate stories and activities. For example, staff support toddlers to learn what the words 'worried' and 'angry' mean and discuss when they might feel that way. They reinforce these concepts throughout the day and swiftly intervene to support children when they struggle to regulate their behaviour.
• Children demonstrate good levels of independence for their age. Staff have very good shared expectations of what children can do for themselves and ensure this is embedded in daily routines. For example, staff patiently support babies to learn to serve their lunch. They show them how to hold and lift a spoon to develop their early independence skills.
• Staff work well alongside external agencies and professionals. They seek advice and guidance when necessary on how to help children meet the next steps in their development. Leaders ensure that staff receive regular updated training to ensure children's needs are effectively met, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Staff engage well with parents and provide guidance on how to support children's learning at home. For example, they encourage parents to read regularly at home with their children and comment on the success of a recent book swap initiative. Parents value the communication they receive from staff and information on what their children are developing next.
• Leaders monitor staff's practice well. They undertake regular observations of staff working with children and provide constructive feedback, including as part of an effective supervision process. Leaders ensure that all staff take part in regular training opportunities and comment on the high level of engagement in this from staff. For example, staff have recently taken part in enhanced key-person training, including strengthening their awareness of how to identify the next steps for children's development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the implementation of the curriculum across the setting to ensure consistency in children's learning
• strengthen how staff offer children challenge and extend learning to maximise the progress they make.