Hunts Cross Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

During the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the nursery has had issues with staff retention and recruitment. The newly appointed manager and her team have a clear vision for the nursery. They have identified priorities for children's learning and development, such as supporting children's speech and language development. Staff follow children's interests and use key stories to extend children's vocabulary. Babies babble along to nursery rhymes, and young children confidently recall the tricky names of dinosaurs. Pre-school children describe the hungry caterpillar as 'ginormous'. Children's vocabulary and language structures are developing rapidly.

Children who speak English as an additional language, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and children in receipt of additional funding are very well supported. The excellent key-person system and accurate use of assessment mean that gaps in children's learning and any specific needs are identified early and acted on quickly. Learning goals in children's education, health and care plans are seamlessly interwoven into all aspects of the curriculum. All children are well prepared for their next steps in learning.

Staff set clear expectations for behaviour and routines. Consequently, children behave well and work together to tidy their room when the tidy-up song is played. They show consideration for others as they hold doors open when walking along the corridors and politely greet children and staff along the way.

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

• Leaders have placed great importance on building the staff team. Parents talk about the improvements that they have seen in the short space of time that the new manager has been in place. Leaders have ensured that all staff, including those who are long term bank staff, have access to online learning platforms to help them to enhance their professional development. All staff say that they feel well supported and staff morale is high.
• Overall, staff promote children's knowledge of mathematics well. Staff take many opportunities to support children to count and recognise colours and shapes throughout their daily routines and planned activities. However, when staff in the pre-school room introduce the concept of symmetry to children, they do not do this is in a logical way. Staff use language that is too complex, and do not build on children's knowledge and understanding to consolidate their learning. This means that children become confused and are unable to complete the task they are set.
• Staff support children to be independent learners. This is evident as young children independently wash their hands and faces after lunch. Pre-school children eat their lunch in the school hall. They skilfully carry their trays to the table and scrape their plates after eating. Furthermore, staff have carefully considered the learning environment to enable all children to self-select resources and initiate their own play. Children are developing the skills they need for the future.
• Children enjoy healthy meals and snacks and have access to fresh drinking water. However, managers and staff do not give clear and consistent messages to children that support healthy choices for the care of their teeth. This means that children do not gain a good understanding of the impact that some foods can have on their teeth.
• Staff plan many opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. For example, staff provide babies with soft play to enable them to pull themselves up. Toddlers kick and roll large balls to each other. Staff facilitate physical games with large dice, where pre-school children hop the number of times shown on the dice. Such activities help to develop children's small- and large-muscle strength.
• Children's communication, language and literacy are well supported at this nursery. Children hear an extensive range of words and sounds to extend their speaking and listening skills. Staff weave core stories and adult-led activities throughout the learning environment, which foster children's imagination and creativity. For example, staff create exciting dinosaur play and provide children with back-and-forth commentary to develop their understanding of the natural world.
• Leaders failed to notify Ofsted of a recent safeguarding incident. Notifying Ofsted of significant events is a requirement of registration. Leaders fully understand how they have made this error, and had been working with other safeguarding professionals. There was no impact on children's safety and welfare because of breaches to requirements.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that staff consolidate each step of children's learning to build on what they know and have learned so that the process of learning new mathematical concepts is logical
• promote the good oral health of all children attending the nursery.