Heaton Dene Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident and settled in this inclusive nursery. They form secure attachments with familiar staff, who are warm and responsive to children's individual care needs. They provide a calm, nurturing space where children are safe and secure. Babies cuddle up to staff as they read stories, and older children explore emotions through story books that introduce the concepts of feelings and emotions as they sit quietly in the cosy corner. Staff promote positive behaviour and celebrate children's achievements, helping to build their self-esteem and resilience. Consequently, all children behave well and show a real sense of belonging.

Leaders implement a well-planned curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. Staff gather accurate information about children's starting points before they join the nursery. They spend time observing children to carry out early assessments and identify appropriate next steps in learning. Children are confident and engaged, showing positive attitudes towards learning. For example, toddlers show good levels of concentration and perseverance as they develop their hand- eye coordination, carefully attempting to remove the lids from colouring pens independently. All children make good progress from their individual starting points.

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

• Children gain a good understanding of what makes them unique. Staff understand how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work closely with a range of external professionals to seek the support that children need. They create targeted and suitable activities for children who require additional support. This ensures they are fully inclusive and able to adapt activities and the environment to meet the needs of all children.
• Leaders understand their responsibilities and take effective action to ensure the nursery remains safe, inclusive and well led. Staff feel well supported through regular supervision and access to targeted training opportunities. Leaders use additional funding effectively to meet the individual needs of eligible children. Through careful observation and assessment, staff identify areas where children may need extra support, such as with emotional regulation or language development. All children in receipt of additional funding make good progress and develop the skills required for their next stage of education, including school.
• Hygiene routines are consistently embedded across the setting. Children demonstrate independence in managing their personal care. For example, they confidently wash their hands after using the toilet and understand the importance of disposing of tissues correctly. Furthermore, during a recent walk, staff supported children to explore wheat growing in a nearby field and helped them make meaningful links to the cereal they eat for breakfast. Children develop an awareness of where food comes from and how it helps their bodies stay healthy. This means staff support children well to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyles.
• Effective partnerships with parents contribute to children's well-being and learning. Parents value the opportunities to participate in nursery life and extracurricular activities, which support community links and enrich children's experiences. In addition, parents receive support and guidance to help their children's learning at home. For example, staff liaise with parents to put plans in place to support children's development, such as toilet training and ceasing dummy use.
• Staff provide a commentary for children's play and engage in conversations with them. They allow plenty of time for children to think creatively and answer questions to build on their emerging skills. However, staff have not yet considered how to introduce and reinforce the use of new words to extend children's vocabulary further. Some words that staff use in conversation with the children are basic for the children's age and stage of development. This means, at times, that children's communication and language skills are not fully supported.
• Staff have a good understanding of the overall aims of the curriculum and plan activities that reflect children's interests. However, the planned intent for some activities is not always sharply focused on what individual children need to learn next. At times, learning intentions are broad and are not tailored to extend or deepen children's learning. As a result, while children enjoy engaging activities, the impact on their individual progress is not consistently maximised.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to introduce and reinforce new words to children to increase their vocabulary and enhance their communication and language skills
• support staff to ensure the learning intentions for planned activities are clearly defined and tailored to individual children, so that they can more effectively support each child's next steps in learning.