Holyrood Day Nursery Salford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and settle quickly into their nursery routines. They form warm and trusting bonds with staff who are kind and caring. Staff offer flexible settling-in sessions and gather pertinent information from parents. They offer an abundance of cuddles and reassurance which helps new children to feel safe and secure. Children are happy and clearly enjoy their time at nursery. Young children welcome the inspector with huge smiles. Older children demonstrate their impressive communication skills as they share resources with the inspector and explain what they love doing at nursery. Children are engaged, motivated and enthused to learn.

The nursery's unique and ambitious curriculum is appropriately sequenced to help all children to make good progress. 'My mind, my body and my world' underpins children's learning and the array of experiences and opportunities planned. Children eagerly participate in the 'daily mile', which ensures they partake in daily exercise. Babies and toddlers develop essential skills as they learn to crawl, stand, climb and balance. Children participate in carefully considered activities to help them to recognise and celebrate their own uniqueness and that of others. This prepares them well for life in modern Britain, and helps children to understand their place in society.

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

• Staff regularly observe and assess children learning. They note children's emerging interests and use these as a vehicle to ensure that children's next steps in learning are achieved. Staff quickly identify any emerging gaps and consult with other agencies, such as speech and language therapists, to ensure that children receive the support that they need.
• The special educational needs coordinator is passionate, knowledgeable and methodical in her approach. She successfully assists and guides staff to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities excel from their starting points.
• Children thoroughly enjoy spending time outside. They develop their problem solving skills as they work out how to transport water from the outdoor tap using containers and pipes. Children excitedly hunt for natural objects, such as flowers, twigs and leaves. In turn they develop their counting and mark-making skills, as they follow instructions on a clipboard and note their findings. Younger children enjoy digging in the mud and playing with sand as they learn about different textures.
• Overall, staff manage children's behaviour well. They are quick to intervene to solve conflicts and use distraction techniques as a tool for managing unwanted behaviour. However, on occasion, staff do not offer children clear explanation as to why some behaviours are unwanted and the consequences of their actions. This means that children do not always understand what is expected of them.
• Children enjoy listening to stories read by staff. Young children are encouraged to turn the pages independently, and older children predict what they think will happen next. However, books in the younger children's playrooms are not always accessible. There are often too many books placed in baskets, and this presentation makes it hard for children to independently select and enjoy their favourite stories.
• The manager and staff are a dedicated team who are enthusiastic about providing high-quality care and education. Staff are able to access a variety of training courses, both face to face and online, and these have a positive impact on outcomes for children. There are existing arrangements in place for staff supervision meetings and observations of teaching practice. However, these do not robustly identify weaknesses in teaching practice. This means that staff are not always clear on their precise targets to help bring about improvements.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. The nursery has an online app to provide parents with details of their child's learning and development and the care they receive. Parents speak highly of the staff team and the support afforded to ensure that their children's individual needs are well met.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to help children develop an understanding of why some behaviours are unwanted and the consequences of their actions
• consider children's access to books and the presentation of these, especially within the younger children's playrooms, so that they are easily accessible to promote an independent love of literacy
• strengthen existing arrangements for supervision so staff are clear on their targets to help improve practice and knowledge.