Joyful Tots Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have high expectations for all children to make good progress. They support staff to plan engaging activities that stimulate children's curiosity and interest. For instance, staff build on children's interest in recreating a coffee shop by organising a sensory tray with tea bags, coffee and cocoa powder. Children focus their attention on pouring the mixture into cups and offering them to staff. Staff introduce new vocabulary to children, such as 'delicious', as they talk with children about the different smells. This helps to build on children's language skills.

Staff support children to develop an awareness of how to manage their own health needs. For instance, they talk to children about how to keep themselves safe in the sun. Staff encourage them to share their own ideas, which helps children to process their thoughts to enhance their understanding of how to look after their own bodies.

Overall, children show positive behaviour. Staff remind children of the nursery rules, such as while they play on the new climbing frame. Staff encourage children to remember how many can use it at any one time. Children enjoy counting how many are on the climbing frame. When there are too many on it, children willingly get down to allow their friends to have a turn.

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

• The manager places a strong focus on building on children's independence skills in order to prepare them for school. This is shared and understood by staff. This enables staff to work together to organise the children's environment to ensure that it supports them to do things for themselves. For instance, older children put their own bags away and register themselves upon arrival.
• Leaders are reflective of the service they provide for children and their families. For example, they have welcomed support and advice from relevant agencies to help them to review and improve the safety and security of the premises. Leaders have responded to this by updating their risk assessments. This helps them to promote children's safety.
• Leaders value and support their staff. They welcome ideas and suggestions from staff regarding how they can plan for children's learning. Leaders also actively encourage their staff to complete further training to extend the quality of their teaching.
• Staff work with parents and other agencies to gather appropriate information about children. This enables staff to get to know their key children well, including their interests, home life and their development. They successfully use this information to plan for children's ongoing learning.
• Overall, the arrangements for mealtimes are implemented well. Older children enjoy the responsibility of helping to set up for lunch. They are supported to complete tasks for themselves as they learn to serve their own food and pour their drinks. However, babies wait too long for their food to be served, which results in some of them becoming upset. This does not fully meet children's emotional needs.
• Staff support children to develop their mathematical knowledge. For instance, they use mathematical language during activities to encourage children to think about capacity. Staff give children time to consider which container has 'more' or 'less', which helps children to make links and recall what they have previously learned.
• Generally, staff engage well with children. For example, they promote children's language skills by talking to them during their activities. Staff use clear language, which helps children to hear the correct pronunciation of words. However, on occasion, some children are not engaged in purposeful play. At these times, staff are slow to intervene. This does not fully enable children to benefit from meaningful interactions.
• Staff implement effective strategies to help them identify children's stage of development, such as by observing them during their chosen activities. This helps staff to establish where children need additional support so that they can precisely plan for children's learning. This helps all children to make good progress. For example, staff use card with visual cues to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to move on to another activity, which enables them to understand what is happening next.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve mealtime arrangements to ensure that babies are not left waiting too long
• support staff to strengthen the quality of their interactions with children to further improve their experiences at nursery.