Happy Futures Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. They show they thoroughly enjoy their time at nursery. They benefit from being greeted by smiling and enthusiastic staff, who make them feel very welcome at the beginning of the day. Children separate confidently from parents and carers and enjoy exploring the resources and activities on offer.

Children behave appropriately for their age. Older children know not to shout out answers but to raise their hands first. Children know where to wait before going outside or to wash their hands before meals. Staff gently support children as they learn how to share and take turns.

The manager and staff are very aware that for some children national lockdowns had an impact on their development and experiences. They have considered this well when planning the overall aims for the curriculum. Children benefit from a curriculum with an even stronger emphasis on their personal, emotional and language development. This effectively helps close any emerging gaps in learning. Staff have high expectations and aspirations for children. For example, they introduce older children to interesting words and concepts, such as 'species', and use books about inspirational people to encourage discussions about the environment and how we can look after it.

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

• The strong emphasis on supporting children's speaking and listening skills has a positive impact on children's communication development. Staff adapt well how they interact with children of different ages. This helps build children's vocabulary and confidence to talk effectively. Staff working with babies and very young children focus on modelling words and phrases that link to what children are doing or can see. Staff working with older children enter into meaningful two-way conversations.
• Staff plan a wide range of activities. However, sometimes they give more consideration to how an activity may fit well with a topic, rather than clearly identifying first what they want children to learn. This means that although children often thoroughly enjoy these activities and there is useful learning, the teaching is not as precisely focused as it could be.
• Staff introduce children to a wide range of books. They read to children every day and incorporate non-fiction, as well as fiction, into group times. This helps ensure children learn to both enjoy stories and understand that books can be useful sources of information.
• Children receive lots of support as they move into new rooms with different staff within the nursery. Information about their care and emotional needs is shared effectively at these times. This helps ensure children settle well into the new routines. However, systems for sharing developmental and learning information are less successful. This means new key staff spend time evaluating what children know and need to learn next rather than making best use of existing assessment information.
• Children understand the routines of the day. This helps ensure a calm environment and also means useful learning time is not lost. For example, toddlers and older children gather quickly and enthusiastically for stories and singing times.
• Staff ensure children have plenty of opportunities to enjoy physically active play. This has a positive impact on children's health and helps build good habits for later in life. Staff working with babies and very young children plan the rooms to encourage crawling and early walking. Older children thoroughly enjoy parachute and other games outside.
• Staff are very respectful of the different cultures and languages children bring with them from home. Staff model words in babies' home languages alongside English. This helps children feel welcome and understood as well as supporting their overall language development. Staff working with pre-school children plan celebrations, that include all the experiences children bring with them from home. This helps children develop a positive view of diversity and the similarities and differences between themselves and others.
• The manager and other leaders focus staff professional development effectively on strengthening staff's knowledge of child development. For example, recent training has helped staff understand more about how children learn and how best to support children to regulate their own behaviour.
• Staff work effectively with parents. For example, they support parents to access help from other professionals should their children need this. Parents speak highly of the staff and trust them to take good care of their children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop planning, so staff focus more closely on what children need to learn next when planning learning experiences
• improve how information is shared between staff as children move rooms within the nursery, to ensure a smoother continuation of learning for children.