Kiddi Caru Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Throughout the nursery, children are happy, inquisitive and enthusiastic learners. Babies excitedly anticipate what staff are going to pull from a sack during their daily 'sing and sign' sessions. Babies listen intently to the songs, moving their arms and hands purposefully while they try, and over time succeed, to sign key words. Young children investigate what happens when they drip glue over a board. They stick different objects to the creation, returning to it over many days and weeks. Staff ask questions about what children see and do, contributing to their rapid ability to become confident speakers and listeners. Older children carefully make potions with water, lemon slices and petals. They work out what will happen if they add warm water or ice, helping them understand scientific changes during their experiments.

Children thoroughly enjoy the garden with their friends. When they need to relax, children find comfortable and shaded spots to sit quietly with staff. They share books together and talk about the stories and characters they encounter. This helps children foster a passion for books from an early age. Babies are able to move in and out of their own garden area, allowing them to explore without interruptions from older children. This contributes to their growing awareness of the surroundings at a pace that is suited to their individual needs incredibly well. Mealtimes provide a calm and social time for children. Sitting in small groups at a time that suits them, children greatly benefit from the positive interactions with staff and their friends.

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

• The manager has very high expectations of the whole staff team. The ethos and well-considered curriculum are extremely well established, helping to provide a clear and consistent approach to teaching and learning throughout the nursery.
• Children thrive in the nursery and make excellent progress in their learning and development. The highly receptive and skilled staff tap in to what children are interested in and make the most of opportunities to build on what children already know and remember.
• Highly effective staff induction and supervision meetings provide all staff with the support to fine tune their skills for their roles. As a team, they reflect on aspects of their practice and the environment to help make continual improvements and adaptations to the nursery. This includes assessing the most effective resources needed at any time to help give the children in the nursery the best start in their learning journey. For example, the senior team previously created a room dedicated to sand, clay and other materials, offering a quieter space for children to use. As the cohort of children changes, the room has been adapted, providing a space for children to cook and experiment with food. This follows children's interests and offers new experiences for children to learn in a memorable way.
• From a very early age, children's emotional well-being is promoted by staff. Young children turn the pages of a book to find yoga positions they would like to practise. Staff help them, reminding children to breathe deeply. Through this simple regulation, children begin to build skills to help them self-regulate their own feelings. When children are upset, the caring and nurturing staff comfort and support them. Children quickly build strong, trusting bonds with their key person and other staff, which is demonstrated through the deep respect for others that runs throughout the nursery.
• Staff share information with parents in different ways, including through face-to-face discussions, open evenings, secure apps and newsletters. Parents feed back information from home. They are keen to use books from a lending library and activity packs provided by staff. This helps parents continue to support children's hunger to learn and discover at home.
• Through their accurate observations and assessments, staff skilfully judge when to step back to allow children to master skills and work things out through trial and error. This helps children build the resilience and confidence to become highly proficient independent learners. For example, while making their own play dough, children decide if they need to add more liquid or more flour to their bowls to improve the texture of their dough. They reflect back to the original recipe they used to make the dough, helping them identify what they could do next time. Children's personal preferences and individuality shine through when they decide how to add colour to their own dough.