Jigsaw Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children spend every moment of their day engaging in the serious business of learning through play at this nursery. Everywhere you look, children are engaged in deep conversations with their friends or staff, sharing their own ideas and opinions, demonstrating that they are happy, confident and safe. They form trusting, warm bonds with their friends and key staff, which promotes their sense of well-being and security and enables them to benefit from the wealth of exciting learning experiences available.

Staff expertly extend opportunities for children's spontaneous learning through the use of open-ended questions and 'wondering' out loud. This helps children remain engaged in activities and develop resilience when they face setbacks in their learning. For example, when children have difficulty sticking pom-poms with a glue stick, they are persistent with their attempts before they achieve success. Staff then shower the children with praise for their determination and effort.

Staff make excellent use of story time to enhance children's listening and attention skills. They make the absolute most of these activities to extend all areas of learning. For example, they understand the importance of helping children to regulate their bodies so frequently encourage them to move around before resettling to listen carefully and benefit fully from the activity. Children squeal with delight as they join in and wriggle their bodies, stretching from the tops of their fingers to the tips of their toes.

Children's behaviour is commendable. They hold one another to account and demonstrate great compassion and consideration for their friends. There are extremely effective and superbly coordinated arrangements in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff hold equally high ambitions for all children and work tirelessly to ensure that everyone is fully included in activities.

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

• The setting is driven by leaders who know and support their staff team well. As a result, the team understands and implements a carefully sequenced curriculum that is designed to equip children with a broad and ambitious range of skills and knowledge. This is promoted with a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language skills, their listening and attention, along with their creativity. Staff use their precise knowledge of each child to plan activities that successfully captivate their interest and sustained thinking. Examples include coordinating musical tuition sessions to support children's social and communication skills. Children can hardly contain their excitement and enthusiasm as they eagerly await the regular visitor. They cooperatively share instruments and beat out the rhythm of the story.
• Staff morale is extremely high. Managers have precise knowledge of the team's strengths and areas for further development. They understand the importance of continuous self-evaluation and prioritise staff welfare and professional development. This leads to enthusiastic, kind and engaging practitioners who are interested in what children say and do and who think creatively about how to teach them what they need to learn next.
• Staff hold limitless ambition for all children. They see each child as special and with unique family circumstances requiring individualised, tailored support. Therefore, all children make outstanding progress. Staff immerse children in experiences that help them to learn about our diverse world in order to teach them how to respect and value others in society. Consequently, children understand and respond to the expected levels of behaviour at the setting. Staff model behavioural expectations effectively with every interaction, as they give children simple, clear instructions and irresistible invitations to play and learn.
• Leaders support staff to implement a clear intent behind all planned activities, and staff use creative methods to help children learn. For example, children enjoy learning about Chinese New Year by creating noodles from dough, exploring the significance of the colour red and referring to print in menus and recipe books. They delight in making traditional music and listening to drums that sound like a 'dragon's roar' as they join the celebratory parade.
• Staff expertly support children's language development. They introduce new vocabulary through descriptions, discussions, stories and songs. Children are constantly encouraged to use their rapidly developing language to express their views. They are asked and respond to questions and share ideas. For example, when playing with the coloured counting bears, children place them all into a bowl. Staff ask if it is full or if there is any room left inside the bowl. Children skilfully identify that there is still space around the bears and suggest that they could fill it with water to ensure it is completely full.
• Partnerships with parents are overwhelmingly positive and constructive. For example, managers produce 'independence packs' to help parents promote children's learning at home and prepare them and their children for their transition to school. This builds upon the effective partnership arrangements the setting has developed with other agencies, including health, for completing the progress check for children at age two. Consequently, the systems in place for identifying children with gaps in their learning are well established and ensure that children start school with the support they need already in place.