Jump Start Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this extremely engaging, welcoming and fully inclusive setting. Every child and family is highly respected and valued for their unique qualities. Children who need additional help with their learning make exceptional progress from their individual starting points. This is because staff are highly trained and focus on priority areas, such as promoting children's social skills and their ability to communicate. Staff quickly recognise when children need specialist help in some areas of their learning. They work collaboratively with professionals, such as health visitors, when needed to provide immediate, targeted help and support.

Children arrive at the nursery with great excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm. Those who need extra help in saying goodbye to parents are gently supported so that they quickly settle, feel at ease and ready to join in.

Children show they feel very secure and safe with the staff. They approach them confidently for comfort and reassurance and interact closely with them in their play and learning. These strong relationships enable children to feel exceptionally good about themselves, to become confident to try new things and to gain increasing levels of independence. These skills equip children extremely well for future learning and help them be ready and confident to start school.

Children behave extremely well. They show care, compassion and courtesy towards others, as staff model these actions to them. Staff have the highest expectations for every child. They strive to provide excellence in all areas of practice. Staff adapt the nursery curriculum and teaching appropriately to offer every child the relevant level of challenge.

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

• The highly focused, personalised teaching means all children, including those who require extra help, make rapid progress in their learning and development. Staff quickly and precisely identify any additional help some children may need. They work closely with other agencies, such as health visitors and speech and language therapists, to provided targeted help and support. This collaborative approach means children's needs are fully understood and consistently planned for.
• Staff place the highest priority on supporting children's emotional well-being. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders recognised that some children found it harder to build relationships with other adults. Staff work tirelessly to gain children's trust so that children quickly form positive attachments to the familiar staff who look after them.
• The nursery manager is an inspirational leader who is highly respected by staff and parents alike. She works tirelessly to continually review the provision and ensure every child and family is consistently supported. Her relentless approach means provision is continually of the highest quality and is tailored specifically to what children and parents need. This is reflected in the rapid rates of progress that every child makes.
• The support for children's language and communication development is exceptional. Staff work collaboratively with speech therapists and have been professionally trained to deliver highly focused language-rich activities. These target children's individual learning needs extremely well. Some children who start at nursery with very limited speech quickly progress to verbalising words and starting to communicate and engage in conversation. Any gaps in children's learning swiftly close. The targeted focus on children's language equips children exceptionally well with the skills they need for future learning.
• The nursery curriculum is fully embedded. It is clearly understood by staff and provides a seamless range of learning opportunities that are tailored precisely for every child. Staff use their exceptional teaching skills to adapt their style and interactions, based on what every child needs to learn next. Children delight in the positive attention they have with staff. This engaging environment encourages children to become confident to try new things, to ask questions, and to develop their curiosity and interest. For example, staff use the well-resourced soft-play area to build children's language and communication skills as they recreate their current favourite story of 'The Three Little Pigs'.
• Children have extensive opportunities to learn about, and celebrate, the differences and similarities between themselves. For example, following a recent celebration of Chinese New Year, children play with noodles as part of their imaginative play. They talk about how some children enjoy this food at home as part of their family traditions. Children are continually kind towards one another and their positive actions are consistently praised by staff. This creates a very happy, positive and harmonious learning environment.
• Leaders use additional funding well to support the nursery's curriculum. Staff benefit from frequent, professional training to provide them with the highest quality, specialist skills and knowledge to support every child's learning needs. For example, staff have been expertly trained by speech and language therapists to deliver activities which specifically focus on children's communication skills.