Kiddiwinks Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and families are at the heart of this welcoming and nurturing nursery environment. They happily arrive and confidently wave goodbye to their parents. Kind and attentive staff warmly welcome children. Children form secure emotional attachments with staff and their key persons. This helps children to feel safe and secure, and to settle quickly.

Children have a positive attitude to their learning. The curriculum is well planned and ambitious for all children. Staff use their knowledge of children's progress and what they need to learn next to help to shape the intent of the curriculum. Children have access to a range of tailored activities and experiences, which entice them to explore and acquire new skills. For example, children explore pretend frogspawn and frogs. They listen intently as staff read to them about the life cycle of a tadpole. All children make good progress at this nursery.

Children's behaviour is good. Staff are positive role models and support children's positive behaviour exceptionally well. They remind children to use their manners and to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Children participate in regular group sessions, which further helps them to listen and take turns. Staff offer praise and encouragement to build children's self-esteem and confidence.

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

• The newly appointed managers are passionate and dedicated. They have a clear vision for continuous improvement. Managers are highly reflective and accurately evaluate all aspects of the nursery. Staff say that they feel well supported and valued in their roles. They receive regular supervision meetings, observations and ongoing feedback about their practice. The managers target areas to develop and source effective training for their staff team. For example, staff have recently completed Makaton training to fully support children's communication development.
• The stimulating outdoor area is a real strength of the nursery and is used all year round to develop children's imaginations and curiosity. For instance, children experiment with mud and water. They make giant muddy puddles and delight as they jump in them with their wellington boots on. Pre-school children search for insects, such as spiders and worms, together. Children experience safe risk and challenge as they climb and balance on tyres and climbing equipment. This supports their physical development well. The managers have further plans to create a sensory and vegetable area for children.
• Overall, children benefit from high-quality interactions with motivated and enthusiastic staff. For example, children use crates to make an aeroplane together. Staff extend children's learning through skilful questioning techniques.
• Children tell visitors that they are going to 'Malta' on their plane. However, at times, during outdoor play, the managers do not deploy staff well enough. This means that children sometimes lack support from staff to consistently extend their play and learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are extremely well supported. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is passionate about her role. She works closely with staff, parents and other professionals to ensure that targeted support is provided for any child with SEND. Parents comment on how well staff support them with seeking outside support and the educational, health and care plan process. Children with SEND make very good progress from their starting points in learning.
• Children's early communication and language development is a priority at the nursery. Staff use songs and rhymes to help children to develop their vocabularies. They engage children in meaningful conversations and provide a narrative as children play. Staff model speech so children hear the correct pronunciation and introduce new words, such as 'petal' and 'frogspawn'. They encourage the children to repeat back the words to embed their learning.
• Children have many opportunities to develop their independence. This is evident as children use tongs to self-serve their food at snack and mealtimes. Older children manage their own care needs, such as putting on their coats and shoes and washing their hands. This prepares children well for the next stage of their learning, including school.
• Partnership with parents is good. Parents are happy and highly appreciative of the care and support that their children receive. Staff gather key information from parents before their children start at the nursery. Parents say that they value the online photos, stay-and-play sessions and termly parents' evenings. The managers are now considering ways to fully embed arrangements to support parents with their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the deployment of staff during outdoor play to provide consistent and purposeful interactions for children
• embed arrangements to support parents to help their children's individual learning at home.