Hummingbirds Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff at this nursery provide a warm and highly nurturing environment for children. Staff build strong relationships with children and their families from the moment they start attending. They get to know children well and show genuine interest in their family lives. Staff are responsive, and they quickly learn how to meet children's individual needs. As a result, the nursery imitates a homely space with a natural family feeling.

Leaders have worked hard to design a curriculum that helps to build on children's existing skills and prepare them for their next stage of learning. There is a strong focus on developing relationships and helping children to become confident communicators. Leaders and staff are tuned in to children's interests and use what they know about them to plan exciting and motivating learning opportunities.

Children are caring and compassionate. The skilled and caring staff are excellent role models. They thread kindness and empathy throughout daily routines. As a result, children display this behaviour to their friends. For example, they ask how each other are feeling, and they notice when their friends have hurt themselves and make sure they are ok. Leaders and staff create reward systems that include kindness certificates, which children receive for showing care to their friends. This helps children to feel valued and teaches them more complex emotional responses.

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

• Children are confident and curious. The well-implemented curriculum supports children to learn a variety of skills. For example, staff help children to plant seeds and grow their own food. Staff support children to recognise the difference in the size of seeds and show them pictures of what their seeds will grow in to. Children learn that seeds need water to grow and take ownership over these tasks. This helps children to develop knowledge about the world around them.
• Communication and language development is given a strong focus within the curriculum. Staff constantly speak to children and narrate what they are doing throughout the day. Children are exposed to a wide variety of language, and they learn to use words such as 'sticky' and 'gooey' to describe the texture of materials. There are occasions, however, when staff slip into using incorrect pronunciation of words when speaking to children. For example, they say 'froggies' for frogs and 'grapies' for grapes. This does not support children's development of communication as fully as possible.
• Children are imaginative, and they learn to express their thoughts and ideas. Staff ask open-ended questions that prompts children to think. However, there are times when staff do not always give children time to process their questions, and they provide an answer too quickly. As a result, children do not always have the opportunity to fully extend their learning.
• Leaders are passionate and dedicated to providing high-quality learning experiences for children. They spend time with staff and children and regularly reflect on where they can make improvements. They identify areas of weakness and are proactive in addressing these. They work with local authority advisers to make changes to the curriculum and the learning environment. Consequently, children experience a nursery that is continuously improving.
• Leaders and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. They identify where there are delays in development and swiftly implement learning plans to help these children make progress. They work closely with parents to review children's development. However, leaders and staff lack knowledge about local processes. They recognise this as a weakness and are keen to engage with other professionals to attend training and improve their knowledge in this aspect. That said, parents of children with SEND are happy with the progress they make.
• Leaders and staff are keen to develop their own knowledge and skills. They undertake mandatory training to ensure that they fulfil their responsibilities. Staff meet regularly to review what they offer to children and are receptive to implementing changes. Leaders monitor staff's practice and ensure that any training they receive is having a positive effect on children's experiences.
• Parents are highly complimentary of the care children receive. They describe staff as caring and friendly and comment on the strong relationships they have formed. They know what their children are learning and appreciate the helpful guidance they get to support their children's learning further at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to use the language they want children to learn so that their communication development is supported even further
• give children time to process information and respond to questions
• provide leaders and staff with the training they need to fully support children with SEND and help them to make even better progress.