Hurly Burly Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and happy. Staff plan an ambitious curriculum that successfully challenges children to make the best possible progress across all areas of learning. Staff provide a welcoming and inviting learning environment, where children enthusiastically engage in play. Staff provide many opportunities for children to be independent and support them effectively to be confident and develop their social skills. This prepares them for their future learning, including moving on to school.

Children's behaviour is good. They play well together, involving each other in their games. They listen to stories and share books with one another as they look at pictures and take it in turn to turn the pages. Children enjoy yoga, which instils a sense of calm. Staff lead enjoyable sessions, encouraging them to practise poses, such as 'downward-facing dog', developing good posture and balance. Staff are excellent role models, and children follow their lead, showing respect towards the adults and one another alike.

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents and staff work well together to meet the children's individual needs. Parents comment favourably upon the excellent communication with staff and how well staff involve them in their children's learning.

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

• Children have good opportunities to take part in role play. They use their imagination well as they pretend to be in a restaurant. They sit at a table with their friends as staff take their food orders. This increases children's confidence and helps them to develop good communication skills.
• Staff know the children well and plan activities based on what they already know and can do. They deliver the curriculum effectively to build on children's curiosity and exploration in their play. For example, children use a toothbrush to clean large models of teeth. Staff engage them well in conversation about the dentist and support them to learn about good oral health.
• Staff use numbers and encourage children to count in routines and activities. However, they do not provide many opportunities for children to use numbers and count beyond 5. They do not encourage children to compare groups of objects or begin to make simple calculations very often.
• Children listen well. They understand and communicate their thoughts, needs and share their ideas. Babies are well supported by staff to develop a wide vocabulary. Staff use books successfully to get children talking and introduce new words and name items, for instance, a digger or a duck.
• Children learn to live a healthy lifestyle. They follow thorough hygiene routines and learn the importance of handwashing. They develop their independence at lunchtime when they pour their own drinks and scrape food from their plates after eating. Staff talk to the older children about the food they are eating, but do not make the most of the opportunity to engage children in other conversation while they have their lunch to develop their vocabulary further.
• Staff are positive role models. Staff are kind and sensitive in their approach and children replicate this in the way that they act with kindness towards the staff and one another.
• The manager provides strong leadership for the staff team. She has worked tirelessly with the staff since the last inspection to make improvements. In her role as the special educational needs coordinator, she is extremely proactive in seeking early help for children when needed. The manager and staff have built highly effective partnerships with other professionals and external agencies to ensure that all children receive the help they require to make the best possible progress in relation to their individual starting points.
• The manager and staff regularly reflect on their practice and assess the quality of the provision. Staff have good training opportunities to develop their practice, and they feel well supported by the manager.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more targeted and frequent support to encourage older children to compare groups of objects and begin to make simple calculations to build on their understanding of number
• make the most of routine activities such as lunchtime to support children's language development and build on their vocabulary further.