Holy Cross Pre School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff place a high focus on supporting children's emotional well-being and promoting their resilience to change. For example, even the youngest children manage the routines confidently as they help to tidy away in readiness for group time. Staff build close relationship with their assigned key children, and they swiftly identify any additional needs to help close gaps in their learning. Staff caring for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have a deep knowledge of their unique personalities. Providing an inclusive environment is at the heart of staff's practice. For example, all children take part in 'bucket time', which is a targeted session for children with SEND. Children show high levels of engagement and enjoyment during this delightful session.

The rich learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, makes a significant contribution to children's development and learning. For example, children joyfully use the pretend bricks and rocks to build their castles, and others create dragons with the dough. Staff use activities extremely well to build on children's creativity and fantasy play. For example, children are inspired as they use chalk on the ground to draw pictures of a wizard, an octopus, a pirate and boat, and they create their own story. Staff have high expectations for all children and skilfully sequence and revisit activities to help children learn more over time.

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

• A rich and impressive educational programme is successfully delivered to support children to acquire the skills they need in preparation for school. The curriculum incorporates opportunities for children to learn about the changing seasons through using the forest area. It includes topics and books that quickly capture their interest. For example, the current topic, fantasy and adventure, is used well by staff to provide creative learning opportunities that support all areas of learning.
• Staff carefully observe and assess children and use this information to plan for the varying ages and capabilities in the group. Activities have a clear learning intention, and staff successfully engage all children. For example, staff know children well and weave in their next steps for learning during their interactions, to help them make good progress.
• The manager works closely with the nursery's special educational needs coordinator to ensure that any additional funding children receive is used to enhance their experiences. For example, children with SEND benefit from one- to-one support and additional resources that spark their interest, and their individual needs are assessed.
• Staff creatively use age-appropriate opportunities for children to learn about their own and others' families and cultures. For example, children share photos of their families and holidays, and they listen to a variety of cultural music. Staff use signs, symbols and images to help non-verbal children communicate. Staff greet children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) and those who are bilingual in their home languages. However, during activities, some staff do not create enough opportunities for these children to use key words in their home languages alongside English words, to further support their learning of English.
• The manager is highly motivated, and staff speak positively about the support they receive. Staff benefit from training and supervision sessions and occasional teaching observations to help build on their knowledge and skills. However, new staff, including apprentices, sometimes ask children too many questions rather than providing a rich range of language to broaden their vocabulary.
• Staff understand the importance of engaging with all parents from the very start. For example, parents who do not speak English are given a digital presentation with photos. They can share this with their children to help explain the routines of the setting. Feedback from parents is overwhelmingly positive. They are impressed by the progress their children make and the quality of activities and experiences on offer.
• Promoting children's health and emotional well-being is a prime focus. Staff use a range of strategies to help children to regulate their emotions and behaviour. Children work harmoniously together during their independent play. Children learn about the benefits of fresh produce as they care for the vegetables and fruits in the allotment and use these to make dishes such as soup.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on professional development opportunities for new staff and apprentices to help them sustain the good quality already achieved
• support staff to consistently use key words in children's home languages, alongside English words, to further support children who speak EAL and those who are bilingual to learn English rapidly.