Kangaroo Pouch Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled and confident. They clearly have fun and enjoy their time at this welcoming and nurturing nursery. Children enthusiastically engage in the wide range of exciting activities and experiences on offer. Staff provide children with nutritious meals and snacks containing a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. They have great fun outdoors as they join in musical games. They listen intently as they follow instructions to jump, crawl, run and stop. Children demonstrate their developing independence. For example, babies feed themselves, two-year-old children learn to put on their own coats and older children serve their own snacks and pour their drinks independently. Children are kind to each other. They play cooperatively and help when they see others struggle. For example, they assist their friends with putting on their coats. Children learn to follow rules and routines and develop good social skills. They develop strong, appropriate bonds with the kind and caring staff.

Children's mathematical skills are promoted well. Throughout the nursery, children learn to count, recognise shapes and numbers and solve simple addition and subtraction calculations. They display 'try again' attitudes during more complex tasks, such as when learning to use scissors. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points.

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

• The manager knows what skills, attitudes and knowledge children need to learn in readiness for their move on to school. She has devised a broad, ambitious curriculum that covers all areas of learning. The manager ensures that any additional funding received by the nursery is used to benefit those for whom it is intended.
• All staff, including apprentices, receive a high level of support to continually develop their professional skills and knowledge. They benefit from a wide range of training opportunities and receive regular supervision and coaching.
• The staff and managers have high expectations for all children. Key persons know each child's specific care and learning needs. They use this knowledge to help children to make progress in all areas of learning. However, in the absence of key persons, cover staff and staff new to the rooms are not always fully aware of what children need to learn next, which hinders children's progress during these times.
• Support for children with SEND is a strength of the nursery. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with staff, parents and other professionals to target support for these children, including one-to-one support. This helps to ensure they get the help they need to make the progress they are capable of.
• Staff manage children's behaviour effectively. Older children are kind and include others in their play. Two-year-old children share and take turns. Babies happily pass toys to one another.
• Staff working with babies ensure they receive the support and attention they need. They respond quickly when babies are hungry, tired or just want a cuddle. The carefully considered layout of the environment helps to promote babies' developing mobility.
• Staff place a strong focus on promoting speech and language. They use good questioning skills and introduce new vocabulary as they engage children in many discussions. Staff working with babies constantly talk to them. They comment on what babies are doing and respond to their babbles and sounds. This reinforces that babies' vocalisations are important and convey meaning. However, staff do not consistently encourage children to only use their dummies when upset or resting. Furthermore, they do not share with parents the impact dummies can have on younger children's communication and language development.
• Managers place a high priority on the health and well-being of the staff. They engage regularly with staff and understand the pressures on them, including their workload. Staff say they appreciate the high level of support they receive from management.
• Staff know that small-muscle development is essential before children develop the ability to write effectively. They include a wide range of opportunities for children to develop these skills. Children push, roll and squeeze dough. Younger children use paintbrushes and soft balls to make marks with paint. Older children use pencils with increasing control and begin to form the letters of their name.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are very complimentary about the staff. They appreciate the feedback they receive about their child's development and the ideas from staff about how they can enhance their child's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen information sharing between staff so that all adults working directly with children have a secure understanding of children's learning needs
• support children to only use their dummies at appropriate times during the day.