Jack & Jill Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are well motivated and eager to explore the activities on offer, as soon as they arrive at this welcoming nursery. They have wonderful relationships with staff and feel safe and secure in their environment. Staff are good role models for children, who behave well.

Children show independence and confidence as they access the variety of resources available. Staff plan interesting and fun activities for their key children to support their next steps in learning. For example, staff provide a range of herbs and fruit that children snip and cut with safety knives and scissors. Children use a good range of language, describing what they can smell as they crush mint and squeeze oranges into water. This helps to strengthen children's fine motor skills in preparation for mark making and early literacy.

Staff sequence children's learning effectively. For example, they support children to extend their imaginative play as they create more potions with herbs they find in the garden. They spend time mixing them with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, testing their ideas and predicting what might happen next. Children also have plenty of opportunities to be creative as they mix powder paints with water, using a range of brushes and sponges to make patterns and pictures on the concrete.

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

• The management and staff have a clear curriculum which centres around what skills children need to be successful learners. Staff understand how children learn and know how to support them in the next stage of their development. Staff work as a strong team to plan their environment, both inside and outdoors. They ensure the experiences they offer, cover all areas of the early years foundation stage.
• All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Staff's knowledge of individual children is excellent. They use children's interests to plan intensive interactions and activities to help support them to access the curriculum throughout the day. For example, the special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) adapts games using picture exchanges as a form of communication. She ensures children's love of animals is encouraged to support understanding and language development.
• Staff show children high levels of respect and kindness. They value their opinions and choices. They have high expectations for all children, including those with SEND and those in receipt of additional funding. Staff work closely with outside agencies, families and other professionals to support children's individual needs. This ensures that all children make good, consistent progress from their starting points.
• Parents are highly complementary of the staff and the opportunities on offer at the nursery. They comment on the good communication, regular updates and photos of their child's time at the nursery. Parents use these ideas to continue to support their children at home, including through the nursery library scheme. Parents say their children show increased confidence and staff are preparing them well for their move on to school.
• Children find out about their place in the community. For example, they visit the school next door, as well as the church and local shops. Children who speak English as a second language have good support. Staff celebrate cultural festivals such as Diwali and Chinese New Year. However, they do not prioritise offering interesting and ongoing ways for children to learn about other people and cultures outside of their own experiences.
• Children benefit greatly from the staff's understanding of the importance of physical development. For example, they enjoy free-flow access to the outside space throughout the day. They spontaneously engage in risky play as they climb the slope and successfully negotiate the slide. They further challenge their balancing skills as they walk across a trail of tyres. They use their outstretched arms to help them balance, and carefully watch where they place their feet, as they step to the next tyre. They ride bikes around the 'track' and the eldest children join in dedicated sports sessions with a qualified teacher. This means that children develop a wealth of confidence in their gross motor skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further extend opportunities to strengthen children's awareness of the similarities and differences between people, cultures and heritage.