Happy Feet Day Care Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to arrive at this friendly, welcoming nursery. Staff form positive relationships with children and their families. They offer support and guidance to parents. Children demonstrate they feel safe and secure as they settle quickly. They are eager to explore the environment and quickly become involved in their learning. Staff plan inviting activities to spark children's interests. Children explore the ice activity and try to work out how to get the dinosaurs out of the ice blocks. They use simple tools to chip away at the ice. Staff support children to explore what happens when their warm hands hold the ice. Children have a positive attitude towards their learning. Staff give a high priority to children's literacy development. Children access a range of stories, songs and rhymes.

Leaders and managers consider the skills children need to be ready for school. They sequence children's learning as children move through the nursery. Children build on what they know and can do. Staff plan learning opportunities based on themes and topics. They think about children's next steps and support their learning through their interests. There is a balance of child and adult led activities. This supports children's learning and development. All children make good progress and are ready for the next stage in their learning.

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

• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They speak clearly and introduce new words as children play. Babies learn basic conversational skills. For example, staff encourage babies to engage in back- and-forth conversations. They talk with babies and then pause to allow them to respond with babbling sounds, before continuing the conversation. Older children speak in small groups. They learn to listen to each other's views. Children are confident speakers.
• During some activities, staff do not fully consider what they want children to learn. For example, staff plan an activity for babies to support language but do not consider the key words they will use. Children self-serve at lunchtime, however, staff have not fully considered the equipment they use. Some tongs are too large and difficult for children to manage independently. This means children do not benefit as much as they could from the activities.
• Snack and mealtimes are sociable times. Staff encourage children to listen to each other and help pass the food around to their friends. Children learn to be kind and considerate of their friends. They ask them if they would like more fruit. Children develop good personal and social skills.
• Children are inquisitive and enjoy cause and effect activities. They take delight in rolling the balls down the chutes and race to see them land in the tub at the bottom. Staff support children to experiment sending the balls down together.
• Children are eager to explore what happens. Staff support children to take turns and children learn to cooperate in small groups.
• Staff do not always support children to develop their critical thinking skills. For example, staff quickly fix the chutes when they fall from the stand as children roll their balls down. They do not encourage children to think of how they can solve the problem and fix it themselves. This does not support children to find solutions to their problems.
• Leaders and managers use additional funding effectively to meet children's needs. Staff plan opportunities to widen children's experiences. They learn about the life cycle of butterflies, visit the post office, and go on bus rides. Children learn about growing herbs and fruit. They benefit from weekly visits to the library. This helps children to develop a sense of their community and learn about the world around them.
• Leaders and managers provide parents with information to help them understand more about how children learn and develop. A coat swap station is situated at the entrance, where parents can recycle coats and shoes. Parents are invited to attend play-and-stay sessions. This helps parents to gain a greater understanding of what their children are learning while at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of the learning intention for activities, so they can support children's development further
• develop staff's knowledge further about how they can support children to develop their critical thinking skills and solve problems, to extend their learning to a higher level.