Hawks Road Community Nursery T/A Tik-Tok

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff offer an exciting, well-resourced and stimulating environment inside and out for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children and families are greeted with warmth by all staff and children are happy to attend. The nursery provides nurture and support for parents and children.

Staff know children exceptionally well and track their learning closely. Children are making good progress. Staff provide children with experiences that they will remember and talk about for a long time to come. They look after the pet rabbits, shop for them and observe ducks hatching from their eggs, for example.

A significant strength of the nursery is how much children with SEND are supported. The staff have strong and effective partnerships with other external agencies to ensure that no child gets left behind. Behaviour is good. Staff intervene successfully to resolve conflict and support children to make good choices. Staff model language well and speak to children calmly and with respect. Children are offered opportunities to have their say, voting for a choice of story book. They decide on what vegetables should be planted, for example. This builds their confidence and self-esteem.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders and staff in the nursery have worked hard to find innovative ways of engaging parents. Parents are invited to partake in activities at home, planting seeds, for example, and sharing their success with the nursery. Staff provide parents with a daily record of progress using an app, supporting parents to understand their child's learning. Parents and siblings are encouraged to borrow books and song bags to support children's early reading skills at home.
• Overall, the curriculum is well planned and sequenced with clear targets for all age ranges. Staff work together and with families to plan what they want children to learn and this is shared on the achievement boards. However, the curriculum for mathematics is less well planned as children are taught key skills before they are developmentally ready. For example, children are taught to count numbers in a group before they have the underlying skills to do this.
• Staff encourage children to be physically active. Children make good use of the outdoor area to develop their gross motor skills, using the scooters, bikes and a large swing. The youngest children challenge themselves, pushing toy prams up and down a small step, while the older children laugh as they balance on tyres with staff nearby to lend a helping hand. A garden supports children's understanding of how plants grow and children excitedly share pictures with staff deciding what to plant next.
• Staff provide children with good language models that reflect the stage of development of the children. This includes singing songs and sharing books. Staff speak to children in a respectful way, asking permission to change a nappy, for example. However, staff do not always use appropriate strategies to support children's developing knowledge of letter sounds, when they are developmentally ready for this.
• The staff team support children who speak English as an additional language very well. They encourage parents to record key phrases into a 'talking book' that is shared with children and staff. This helps children to settle quickly and become more confident to communicate with their friends.
• Leaders carry out regular observations of staff, which feed into effective supervision sessions, supporting staff both professionally and personally. Staff report that the leadership team value their well-being and have an open-door policy. Staff turnover is extremely low, this results in a positive and happy environment for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop a clearer understanding of how children progress in mathematics and decide when it is appropriate to introduce certain skills
• make better use of strategies to further support children's developing literacy skills.