Kiddi Caru Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the nursery and quickly engage in the wide variety of learning opportunities on offer. They develop nurturing relationships with the caring staff, who know the children well. Staff use their good teaching skills to plan activities which support children in their development as well as cater for their individual interests. Pre-school children enjoy re-creating their summer visits to the beach within the large sand area. They set themselves challenges, such as to stop sand falling through different toys. Children are excited when they succeed and delight in explaining what they have done. Babies immerse themselves in exploring with paint. They use their whole bodies and thoroughly enjoy a wonderful sensory experience.

Children benefit from a curriculum that is ambitious and seeks to ensure that they are ready for their next steps in education. Toddlers are learning how to use tools, such as they use safe knives for chopping up vegetables. Pre-school children skilfully use more complex tools for woodwork. These activities provide children with a strong foundation to build on throughout their education. Children behave well. Staff model how to be kind and respectful to others. When children occasionally struggle to manage their behaviour, staff calmly intervene to meet children's needs.

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

• The manager and staff ensure that children develop the language, confidence and physical abilities that they need to flourish at the nursery. They carefully develop a sequenced curriculum. All staff have a strong understanding of children's learning needs and they know how to build on what each child already knows. This supports all children to make good progress.
• Staff promptly and accurately identify children who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They develop good working relationships with parents to ensure that these children receive the help that they need. Children with SEND are fully included in all activities. They also benefit from having quieter times with their key staff, in the well-resourced sensory room.
• Children demonstrate a keen interest in books and reading. They enjoy looking at books independently and sharing them with an adult. Staff encourage children to give their ideas about what might happen next or how certain characters feel. This helps children to understand key events in stories and develop their literacy skills.
• Children's communication and language development is good. This includes children who speak English as an additional language (EAL). Staff pronounce words clearly, use signing and short simple sentences. This results in children who speak EAL repeating words correctly and using them in context.
• Parents' comments about the nursery and staff are positive. They state that they feel well informed about their children's development and know how to support their learning at home. Parents explain that their children feel safe and that staff know and understand them as individuals.
• Staff interact well with children through play and planned activities. They are eager to help children to learn and develop their ideas. Children are enthusiastic to give their thoughts and views. However, at times, staff do not give children enough time to answer their questions or work out how to solve problems they encounter for themselves.
• Staff help children to be physically active. They encourage children to try challenging movements, such as pushing themselves around on balance bikes. Babies have lots of opportunities for scrambling and climbing. Young children enjoy learning how to blow bubbles and delight in chasing them or standing still to watch bubbles float into the air. Children become confident, agile and physically able.
• The management team and staff work together to clearly identify the nursery's strengths and areas for further development. They have plans in place to further improve on the experiences they provide for children. Some areas of the nursery are used very effectively as high-quality learning environments. However, this is not yet consistent in all areas of the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more opportunities for the pre-school children to work out why problems they encounter happen and find their own ways to solve them
• continue to develop the learning environments to offer further support to the ambitious curriculum that is in place.