Ilm Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children and their parents and sensitively escort children to their rooms and help them settle. Children have close relationships with staff, feel safe and enjoy their interactions. Children are happy, behave well and easily adapt to changes in the routine. For example, children quickly get ready for their snack and wait their turn as they serve their own fruit and drinks.

All children, including boys, show an interest in early writing activities. They enjoy writing with brushes in salt and mix water and food colouring into flour to make marks as they play. Staff skilfully promote children's language. For example, children confidently talk about their home lives, what they are doing and share their ideas with staff and each other. Children show a keen interest in number, shape and problem solving. For example, children consider the features of two- and three-dimensional shapes and enjoy counting as they play.

Staff share books daily with children and place a strong focus on increasing children's language skills. For example, even the youngest children show sustained levels of interest during stories as they learn new words and concepts. Children enjoy being outdoors and begin to show an interest in the natural world as they notice the insects as they dig.

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

• Good progress has been made to address the actions and recommendations raised at the last inspection. The manager is knowledgeable. She has made extremely good use of a wealth of research and training to help construct a curriculum that is ambitious. Staff are confident and use children's assessment information sharply, to help close gaps in children's learning. Consequently, all children, including the youngest and the most disadvantaged, make good progress from their starting points.
• The staff are passionate. They report they are extremely happy and value the support they receive from leaders. They state they are keen to embed what they have learned to extend their practice even further. The manager places a high priority on monitoring staff and ensuring they constantly reflect on practice, to drive improvement. Professional development remains an area of continued focus to help support staff, including the newly employed staff and apprentices, in order to sustain the good practice achieved.
• The manager reports the nursery was closed for six months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and building works. Consequently, many of the children fell behind in their personal, social and emotional development, communication and language and their physical development. Staff have worked extremely closely with parents to help close these gaps and, as a result, all children are making good progress.
• Staff swiftly identify any children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. They place a high priority on supporting these children to settle and promote their development of communication and language skills. These children make good progress, enjoy the routine and make the most of what is on offer.
• Parents state they are extremely happy with the changes and improvements since the last inspection. They are delighted with the regular, detailed information they receive about their children's progress and how they can support their learning at home. They value the advice and support they receive on issues, such as managing their children's behaviour, toilet training and supporting their language skills.
• Staff give parents and their children clear messages about living a healthy lifestyle. For example, staff work hard to educate parents about the importance of outdoor play to support children's well-being and physical development. Children confidently use a range of physical play equipment to test and extend their physical skills. They learn about their bodies and its functions and about the benefits of exercise and a healthy diet.
• Staff know the children well. They encourage them to value the various languages spoken and to respect their differences. They help children learn about their own and other's cultures, the natural world and living things. However, on occasions, staff do not consider children's limited prior knowledge and experience of what is being taught. Consequently, on these occasions, children do not always understand and show an interest in the activity provided and what is being taught.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to build on staff professional development opportunities, in particular for new staff and apprentices, to help sustain and build on the good quality practice that is already achieved
• support staff to help children gain a deeper understanding of what is being taught. This relates to providing a richer range of meaningful experiences to help them learn about people, living things and the natural world.