Humpty Dumptys Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm welcome, and children enjoy their time at the nursery. They become intrigued when staff hide objects under a cloth for them to guess what they can feel. When children successfully identify their chosen items, staff provide them with praise. This gives children a sense of pride in their achievements. Younger children explore sensory materials with determination as they scoop rice and sprinkle this into different containers. Staff introduce different words, such as 'soft' or 'hard', as they explore the textures. This supports children's language development. Children get excited and wait in anticipation for their turn to shout out their name when singing familiar songs. They giggle in delight as they copy the different actions to the letter in their name.

Staff provide children with rich first-hand experiences and help children to learn about what makes them unique. Children draw self portraits of themselves and discuss their differences such as hair and eye colour. Children learn about their emotions and how they make them feel during group time. They share what makes them happy. This contributes to children's development of their emotional resilience. Children learn about the wider world around them. They develop awareness of other cultures as they try different food from other countries. Children visit the local supermarket to buy ingredients to make their own pizzas. They choose for themselves what flavour they want on their toppings.

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

• Managers and leaders recognise the pressures of the role and provide staff with a good network of support. Staff attend regular supervisions to discuss their key children and any training to build on their professional development. Staff share that they feel valued within the team and that management are supportive. However, the manager has not fully embedded the monitoring of staff practice, particularly for less experienced staff, to identify where they need further support. For example, less experienced staff do not always deploy themselves as effectively as possible to fully support all children's engagement in their learning.
• Managers and staff plan a broad curriculum that is based on children's interests. They use assessments effectively to identify gaps in their learning. They plan a range of activities to build on children's knowledge and identify where they may need further support. This ensures that children make good progress throughout their time at the nursery.
• Generally, children behave well. Staff support children to understand the rules and boundaries in the nursery. However, not all staff are fully consistent in their approach to managing children's behaviour. At times, they do not explain clearly why children's behaviour is not acceptable. This means that not all children build a fully secure understanding of the expectations of their behaviours and the reasons for the rules.
• Staff engage successfully with children during meaningful activities that develop their awareness of how their bodies function. For example, at group time, children learn about what happens to their hearts when they exercise. They share how their heart beats faster because they have been doing exercise.
• Parents speak highly of the care and support they receive for their children. They explain how staff respond effectively when they have questions about their child's progress and put appropriate support in place. Staff work with parents to help continue children's learning at home.
• The special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) ensures that all children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have appropriate plans in place. She works in partnership with other professionals to ensure that children's needs are met swiftly. This means that all children make expected progress in their development.
• Staff prepare children well for transitions to school. They ensure that children have the skills to enable them to have a smooth transition and be emotionally ready for the move. Children develop their independence through different daily tasks. For example, they pour their water at lunchtime and serve their own lunch. Children show a can-do attitude to trying things for themselves by wiping their own noses and developing their understanding of their own self-care needs.
• Children are physically active as they explore the garden. They skilfully manoeuvre around the garden on their bicycles, developing their gross motor skills. Children manipulate and roll the play dough out, creating different shapes. This enables children to build on their muscle strength in their hands in preparation for early writing skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine the monitoring of staff practice to provide them with further support so that they fully support children to remain engaged in their learning
• extend strategies to support children to gain a better understanding of the expectations of their behaviours.