Holwell Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families receive a warm welcome into this nurturing and caring nursery. Children arrive happy and quickly engage in motivating and challenging activities that staff organise for them. Older children rush in, independently put their coats on their pegs, greet staff and start playing with their friends. New children receive nurturing and sensitive support from their key person to help them settle into nursery. Staff build strong relationships with children and parents. They work with parents to gather information about children's individual needs. This enables staff to support children to make good progress from the outset.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They take time to embed the routines and boundaries in each room. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff interact positively with children and adapt quickly to their interests. For example, older children make snails with play dough. Staff extend this learning by taking children outside to forage for snails and other creatures. Children show joy and curiosity as they look for snails in the mud. These thoughtful moments help children to develop a love of learning and extend their focus and concentration.

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

• The provider develops an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum for children. Staff have a secure understanding of what they want children to learn and achieve. There is a clear focus on developing children's language, social, emotional and physical skills. For example, staff prioritise babies' emotional development to help them form close, strong attachments to their key person. Younger children practise their physical skills, such as pedalling on bikes, and pre-school children develop their listening skills through small-group activities organised by staff.
• Relationships between staff and parents are warm and supportive. Parents are positive about the 'family environment' staff create. They feel included in all aspects of their children's care and education. They receive regular updates about what children are learning when they drop off and collect their children, and through an app the nursery uses.
• Staff interactions with children are positive and encouraging. Staff consistently engage in children's play and skilfully introduce children to new vocabulary through the stimulating experiences they provide for children. For instance, staff carefully explain the differences between snails and slugs and answer children's questions about bugs they find. However, staff do not always provide children with enough time to talk and practise this new vocabulary to fully enhance children's communication skills.
• Effective planning and assessment mean that staff have a good understanding of children's interests, strengths and needs. Staff identify any gaps in learning swiftly and put individual support in place. This means all children are continually moving forward in their learning.
• Staff encourage children to make choices and decisions about what they eat, drink, and play with. For example, children are encouraged to make healthy choices from their lunch boxes. Younger children pour their own drinks and use cutlery to feed themselves. However, the curriculum for developing independence for older children is not as strong. For example, staff provide resources and complete tasks for children without encouraging them to take responsibility for themselves to help prepare them for school.
• The provider has high expectations of staff and are keen to support their well-being. The staff supervision process is robust to ensure staff receive regular guidance and training to further develop their practice. For instance, staff recently received safe sleeping training. Following this, staff have embedded and follow a thorough process for monitoring babies and children as they sleep.
• Children show a positive attitude to learning and their behaviour is good. For example, they listen and follow staff's instructions to line up at the end of outside play. They form a line quickly and happily choose to sing nursery rhymes as they follow staff back into the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give children the time they need to share their ideas and to practise using new vocabulary to develop children's communication skills further
• help older children to develop their independence skills further by offering more opportunities for them to complete tasks for themselves.