Home2home Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children play and learn in a positive and caring environment. Staff are happy and supportive which helps children build trusting relationships with them. Staff warmly greet children at the door. As a result, children part confidently from their parents. Children sing joyfully as they prepare to go out into the garden. They are learning how to keep themselves safe. For instance, older children tell their friends to hold the handrail while walking down the stairs. Before going into the garden, children take part in counting the number of children there are, to check they are all together.

Staff know the children well and support them to build on what they already know and can do and what they need to learn next. Children show a positive attitude to learning. They make connections between their own experiences and their learning at the nursery. For example, pre-school children make tea with cold water, teabags, herbs, and dried orange slices. Children talk about oranges looking like pumpkins. Staff question them about things they could make with pumpkins and children say, 'pumpkin latte'. This helps children to develop a deeper understanding of the topic that interests them.

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

• The director and manager provide a clear vision for the nursery. They understand how young children learn and how to support their learning and development. They know their staff very well, supporting them to improve their teaching skills through well-planned professional development and regular supervision. As a result, staff feel valued and very happy at work.
• Staff nurture children's emotional development. Staff working with babies have a strong understanding of attachment and create a calm, soothing environment. They practise respectful care by talking to babies about what they are doing when they change their nappies or put them down for a nap.
• Children develop a strong sense of their individuality. Staff help children to learn about and celebrate festivals and events that are important to them and their friends. For example, children take pride in sharing their ideas and thoughts about the invention of traffic lights and how this connects to their cultural heritage.
• Staff support children's independence skills from an early age. They encourage children to 'have a go' at completing tasks for themselves. For example, babies and toddlers learn to use cutlery during mealtimes. Pre-school children show strong skills in caring for themselves. They put on their own coats to go outside to play, take themselves to the toilet and independently blow their noses.
• Toddlers benefit from rich-learning opportunities when they work in smaller groups. Children show high levels of engagement and staff interactions are of good quality. Children make 'birthday cakes' from cinnamon scented play dough and sing 'happy birthday'. This supports young children's developing imagination. Occasionally, staff do not organise large group times in the toddler room to ensure that younger children are fully engaged in their learning.
• Children have lots of opportunities to be physically active and to develop their muscle control. For example, babies explore the soft play climbing equipment with ease. Older children jump onto numbered stepping stones and toddlers confidently climb on the outdoor climbing frame.
• Staff support children's language development well. They engage children in conversations and discussions, modelling and repeating new vocabulary, such as 'gigantic' and 'squishy'. Children are eager to show a visitor their sign language skills. Staff ask considered questions that encourage children to think, describe and share what they know. As a result, children learn new vocabulary and are confident speakers.
• Parents give high praise to management and their team for the level of support their children and family receive. They say they feel listened to and value the daily photos of their children they receive through the nursery app. However, occasionally, staff do not share enough information with parents to help them understand their children's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the organisation of large group times in the toddler room to ensure that children receive the same rich learning opportunities during this time as they do at other times of the day
• enhance systems for sharing information with parents about their children's learning and development.