Jack and Jill Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and eager to learn at this 'home-from-home' nursery. Staff are patient and welcoming to families on arrival. They value detailed and warm interactions with parents before the leave. Staff know the children well. Children separate easily from their parents and quickly feel safe and secure with their key person.

All staff are positive role models. Staff encourage young children to share, take turns and be kind to one another. As a result, young children help each other find their shoes when getting dressed for outdoor play. Staff give praise for children's achievements and perseverance. Children have good self-esteem.

Staff carefully consider the stimulating and inviting environment. They encourage children to make choices in their play. Staff provide a wide range of resources to inspire children's current interests. For example, babies babble excitedly as they explore the Christmas sensory box, laughing as the staff gently brush the 'tickly' tinsel against their face. Young children are curious and eager to participate as they chat with friends about circles and lines they make in the freshly fallen snow outdoors. Staff support language development well. They use repetition and introduce new words, such as when talking about where the 'octopus' lives, while playing a colour-recognition game. Children are confident and curious.

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

• The passionate and dedicated manager promotes a strong family ethos in the setting. Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents compliment the friendly and supportive staff team who continuously share next steps and tips with them, to support children's development. This enables continuity of learning between home and the nursery. Children are settled and ready to learn.
• Leaders and staff understand what they want children to learn and plan a broad curriculum to follow children's interests. Staff observe and make regular assessments of children's learning. They provide a balance of free play and adult-guided activities. However, some staff do not make the best use of what they know children are capable of, to extend their learning. Occasionally, some children lose interest and do not make the best progress possible.
• Staff manage behaviour well. Staff have recently attended behaviour management training and have introduced new strategies in the setting. They use every opportunity to consistently model to children how to share and take turns. This helps children to develop good social skills.
• Staff help children to develop their early mathematical skills. They provide opportunities to count and recognise colours. For example, children count from one to 10, and name the colours of different scoops of ice cream in the role-play shop. They discuss how much money the ice creams will sell for. Children show good knowledge of early mathematical concepts.
• Staff focus strongly on language development from an early age. They talk with children, model language and introduce new vocabulary linked to children's experiences. They adapt their approach for children who speak English as an additional language. Parents share familiar words in the children's home language and discuss how they communicate at home. This helps give meaning to words for children. Children have good communication skills.
• Overall, staff promote children's physical development well. Older children have lots of opportunities to strengthen their large and small muscles. They ride bicycles outdoors and develop good hand control as they use scoops to empty and fill containers with sand. However, staff working with babies do not consistently promote their large-muscle development as effectively as possible. While staff appreciate the importance of 'tummy time' to help babies reach and stretch whole body muscles, too often they organise activities in ways which limit movement. For example, staff sit babies in a chair at the table to explore sand or to mark make. As a result, provision for babies' large-muscle development is not as effective as possible.
• The manager and staff team support children to learn about other cultures. They work closely with parents to explore the different home languages of children in the setting. They use books, photographs and videos to explore customs and homes around the world. Children design and make traditional costumes. They are well supported to develop an understanding of what makes them unique and how to respect others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to consistently plan for young babies to develop their large-muscle movements
• support staff to make consistently good use of what children already know when planning adult-led activities, to support all children to engage and achieve the most from their learning experiences.