Key Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children leave their parents with ease and happily enter this welcoming and inclusive nursery. They are keen to join in with activities. When visitors enter the room, older children say, 'Welcome friends!', showing they are comfortable in the nursery. Young children are confident to explore the environment, knowing there is a familiar person nearby for reassurance if needed. Children form positive relationships with adults and other children. They play together and have fun, saying, 'You're a funny onion' and laughing out loud.

Children have many opportunities to practise what they have learned. Staff have high expectations of children and encourage them to solve problems for themselves. When children make their own play dough and want to make train tracks, staff ask them what they may need to do it. Together, they look at the different tools and try out which ones work the best.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents have not been able to enter the nursery, but report that they have very good communication with the manager and their child's key person. They report that they really benefited from the family activities, such as pumpkin carving, that were held before the pandemic. Parents say staff go 'over and above' to help their children settle and support their development.

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

• The manager reflects on practice and makes changes that benefit the children. She has changed the environment and resources since following the 'vulnerable two's' project to increase natural resources and create more specific learning areas. The manager reports that children's imaginations have flourished and that they are much more sociable with other children in their play.
• Staff know the children well and plan for what they need to learn next by using their interests. Staff are quick to identify any gaps in learning, put in place plans to help children catch up and seek outside support. Staff monitor the areas children use and encourage them to access all curriculum areas. Children receive a broad curriculum and make good progress, including those receiving funding and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Children are keen to play outside where they climb, balance and practise new skills, such as hitting a ball with a cricket bat. Older children talk about their favourite fruits and vegetables at mealtimes and are confident in their self-care skills. At times, staff complete tasks for the younger children, such as putting on their coats and aprons for them, rather than teaching them how to do it for themselves.
• Children's behaviour is very good. They play together and show that they have formed good friendships as they chat together happily. Staff help them to negotiate in order to share and take turns, for example by using sand timers. They encourage children to think about how they can ask someone to move out of their way politely, and children remember that they could say 'please'.
• Staff repeat words and sentences back to young children correctly and provide a narrative during their play. They ask older children lots of questions and encourage them to talk about past events. Children are confident communicators and engage well in conversations.
• The manager and staff work extremely closely with other professionals who are supporting children's individual needs. They make changes to the environment and seek advice and support. They work together consistently to support children's learning and development.
• Children regularly practise developing their early writing skills. Young children use twigs, feathers and leaves and confidently talk about what they are drawing in the tray of salt, giving meaning to their marks. Older children make and use dough with various tools, strengthening their hand muscles in readiness for writing. However, staff have not had up-to-date training on how to teach children the correct letter sounds. Children do not learn these correctly in readiness for starting school.
• Children have recently learned about the Hawaiian lifestyle and culture, through dressing up, dancing to music and tasting food. They bring in photographs of their favourite places and share their unique family experiences with one another. This teaches children about the similarities and differences between themselves and others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• train staff to deliver a consistently high-quality curriculum for literacy and for any specialist programmes, such as phonics
• help staff working with the younger children to understand the importance of teaching them how to develop their self-care skills.