Kiddie Capers, Merlin House

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children behave well and show a good attitude towards learning. They are kind and considerate to their friends. For instance, toddlers learn to help each other to access the resources when they are unable to do it on their own. Staff recognise this good behaviour and praise children appropriately. Additionally, staff are effective at supporting children to modify their behaviour. This includes reminding them to use their 'listening ears' when they become distracted during activities. This helps children to develop an understanding of what positive behaviour looks like.

Staff carefully consider how they can support children to develop their physical skills. For instance, they provide older babies with big soft toys to play with. Babies enjoy picking them up and carrying them around, which supports them to build on their core muscle strength and promotes their coordination.

Children benefit from a well-planned curriculum. In response to children's emerging needs, leaders have placed a strong focus on promoting children's language skills. Staff implement this effectively in children's daily experiences. For example, staff regularly read and sing to them. Children enjoy joining in with the actions and words, demonstrating their familiarity with these. Staff build on older babies' communication skills by offering them props during activities to help them to convey their choices. Staff name the objects that children have chosen, which supports them to build on their vocabulary.

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

• The manager is sensitive to the needs of the children who attend the nursery. She implements effective systems to enable her to identify what she wants children to learn. She successfully shares this with staff, who confidently explain what the focus of learning is for each room. This enables staff to plan well for children's ongoing development.
• Staff support children to take appropriate risks. For instance, older children regularly participate in forest school sessions, where they learn how to keep themselves safe. Babies benefit from opportunities to explore and climb over soft play equipment under the close supervision of staff. This promotes children's understanding of how to manage risks for themselves.
• Leaders consider ways to broaden the range of experiences that children have access to. For example, children regularly enjoy visits to the local parks and train station. Additionally, leaders invite parents and visitors to attend the setting and teach children about different vocations, cultures and traditions. This helps children to extend their knowledge of their world around them.
• Staff have good knowledge of their key children. They talk confidently about children's interests and development. They work effectively with parents and other agencies involved in children's care. This helps children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to receive consistent support in their learning.
• Teaching is strong overall and staff understand and implement the curriculum effectively. Children enthusiastically join in with activities. For example, toddlers have great fun as they explore shaving foam and learn through exploration of their senses. However, there is some inconsistency in the quality of staff interactions within the nursery. This is because the deployment of staff is not fully effective in ensuring that there is a good balance of experienced and new staff within each room. Although all staff are warm and kind to children, in rooms with more inexperienced and less confident staff, children do not benefit from consistently high-quality interactions. In addition, this does not enable new staff to benefit fully from observing the practices of more experienced colleagues to develop their skills.
• Staff implement effective strategies to support children with English as an additional language (EAL). For instance, staff help new children with EAL to quickly settle when they become upset by showing them stories in their home language. Children enjoy listening to them on the nursery's electronic devices before engaging in other activities. Additionally, staff learn key words from children's home language which enables them to understand what children are trying to communicate to them.
• Parents are happy with the setting and their children enjoy attending. Parents are well informed about their child's progress. Leaders consider ways to support parents to be involved in their child's learning, such as organising parents' evenings and events. This helps to build on partnerships with parents and promotes the sharing of appropriate information.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the arrangements to deploy and support new or less experienced staff within the nursery.