Keighley Community Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Practitioners provide children with a safe and caring learning environment. Babies nuzzle into their key person for comfort and when they are tired. Children enter the setting and immediately access resources. Practitioners carry out home visits to learn about children and their families before they start. This builds up trust between practitioners, children and their families. Children are extremely happy. Practitioners role model good behaviour. They listen to children and say 'please' and 'thank you'. Children copy this behaviour. From a young age, practitioners teach children to share. They explain why sharing is important and teach children to be kind. Children's behaviour is good.

Practitioners have high expectations for children's learning. They provide children with good opportunities to develop their mathematics, social and emotional development. For example, children engage in playing with sand and work together. They take turns and build sandcastles. Children sculpt using spades and spoons. They develop their small muscles skills. All children make progress, including those who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Managers uses additional funding well. They purchase items so all children can enjoy all areas of the curriculum.

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

• Overall, the curriculum is good. Babies experiment with cornflour and make marks. Practitioners teach them how to use utensils to help develop their small muscle skills. Practitioners read books to toddlers and talk about the story and pictures. This helps children to develop their thinking and early language skills.
• The management team has recently opened a new room for two-year-old children. Some children in this room have not yet reached the development milestones for their age. Practitioners initially use appropriate teaching methods to enhance two-year-old children's learning. However, they quickly move on to teaching that is to challenging for them. For example, practitioners blow bubbles to gain children's attention. Children excitedly pop the bubbles. However, practitioners ask children questions about the bubbles that they do not yet have the language skills to reply. As a result, experiences for these children can be to challenging and they leave the play.
• Overall, practitioners encourage children's independence. They place objects out of babies' reach and encourage them to explore their environment. Practitioners teach children how to wash their hands, and put on and take off their shoes and coats. They provide verbal instructions when children struggle. However, at mealtimes, practitioners do not consistently encourage children's independence. For instance, they fetch children's plates, cups and cutlery and pour children's drinks. When children attempt to be independent and self-serve, staff stop them.
• This limits children's independence and opportunities to develop the skills they need to learn for their move on to school.
• Practitioners encourage children to use their imaginations. For instance, they support children who role play driving a car to the supermarket. Children take turns and share the steering wheel. They pretend to purchase items from the supermarket. Practitioners teach children a song about car safety and children confidently recall the words. Children develop an understanding of how to keep themselves safe and why.
• Children have lots of exciting opportunities for physical development. For instance, they take part in yoga sessions and learn how to move their bodies. Children balance and make shapes using their body. They develop their spatial awareness and coordination.
• Practitioners work well with parents. They share information with parents through information boards, an online app and meetings. Parents report that communication sharing is good. Staff involve parents in their children's learning.
• Managers are passionate about providing high-quality care and education. They ensure that practitioners receive focused professional development and regular supervision sessions. Practitioners feel valued and appreciated. This impacts positively on the care and education which they provide for all children.
• Practitioners teach children about height and size, such as when they build with large bricks. They create a construction role-play area with the bricks. Practitioners teach children about the reason to wear safety helmets and the dangers on a construction site. They introduce language in context, such as 'cement mixture' and 'mortar.'

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan the curriculum more precisely for two-year-old children, to build on their existing knowledge and skills
• support practitioners to encourage children's independence further, particularly at mealtimes.