Just Kidz Nursery at St Edwards

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at this family-focused nursery. Children arrive eager to play and explore. They are warmly welcomed by the staff. This helps them feel secure. Staff support children to engage with a wide range of activities. For example, staff support children to explore different herbs by mixing them together with a pestle and mortar. This encourages children's confidence and understanding. Staff plan an exciting and stimulating curriculum for children. They successfully prioritise widening children's experiences. For example, children sustain high levels of concentration when making their own art and talking about the artist they have learned about recently. This helps children gain a wide variety of new skills and knowledge as well as building on what they already know.

Staff praise and encourage children. Children behave well. They use good manners, offering to make 'sand' ice creams for staff. This supports their social skills well. Staff promote positive attitudes to learning. They play alongside children and encourage them to make choices. For example, children enjoy choosing different-sized syringes and plungers to explore in the water tray, filling different containers. Staff offer suggestions and ask them questions to help their thinking skills. Staff promote children's mathematical understanding well. Children enjoy counting how many hand prints they can make on the easel outside. All children make good progress.

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

• Staff promote children's good behaviour. Children play with their friends nicely, taking turns and sharing. Staff frequently praise them and share in their achievements. Children proudly show off their painted creations to their friends and staff. This develops their self-esteem effectively.
• Staff support children's emotional well-being. Staff know their children and families well. They understand children's individual needs. For example, staff create a cosy space where children can relax when they need some quiet time alone. This helps children to feel safe.
• Children benefit from a rich set of learning experiences. For example, staff introduce children to a different way to make patterns with petals on paper. However, not all staff know how the activities offered help children move forward in their learning and support their next learning steps. This means that, at times, children are not fully supported to make further progress in their learning.
• Staff encourage children to be independent. Children are encouraged to make choices about what they want to do and play with. They confidently explore the activities on offer, chatting with their friends about what they are going to play with. This encourages confidence in their own abilities.
• Children enjoy listening to rhymes and stories. Staff encourage children to make different animal sounds and join in. However, at times, staff do not fully extend children's language and vocabulary to help them develop their conversation and communication skills further. For example, they do not always recognise opportunities to introduce and explain new words.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff provide children with one-to-one support to help them make good progress. Staff liaise well with external agencies for advice and support. They have good relationships with the school and work together to help children settle in.
• Leaders and managers work well together. They are passionate and proactive. They are committed to ensuring they provide good-quality care and education. For example, they access additional funding to make enhancements to the outside area to support children who do not have access to outdoor space at home.
• Staff are well supported in their roles. They are encouraged to take on additional training to develop their knowledge and skills. They have good relationships with professional partners to share ideas. For example, leaders and managers attend regular collaboration events with other settings to support practice and provision.
• Communication with parents is strong. Staff help them to understand the importance of regular attendance to help their children's learning. Parents are provided with detailed information about their children. They say that their children have made good progress. They appreciate the events they are invited to, and they are given cost-effective ideas to help their children with their learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how planned activities link to individual children's learning and help them make progress towards their next steps
• help staff to recognise when they can extend children's language skills further to support their developing vocabulary.