Kirk Hammerton Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and quickly establish positive relationships at this setting. There are clear procedures for settling children and building relationships with parents and carers from the very beginning. For example, staff visit children in their homes. They find out about children's past experiences and what they already know and can do. Staff talk to parents and get to know children's interests. The effective key-person system, and strong bonds that staff form with children, enables children to feel safe and secure in their environment.

Experienced managers actively work with staff to strengthen their skills in supporting children's behaviour. All staff use strategies, such as positive language, setting targets and giving generous praise and encouragement, to foster children's good behaviour. As a result, children learn to play cooperatively with their friends.

Staff support children's physical development well. Children enjoy lots of time outdoors to support their core strength and well-being. Staff provide encouragement, clear instructions and the right level of help, so children become increasingly independent in managing their personal needs. Children often carry out daily tasks independently, such as washing their hands before mealtimes or serving their own drinks. They develop the necessary skills in readiness for their eventual move to school.

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

• There is a strong focus on children's communication and language at this setting. Staff develop these skills through singing, storytelling and encouraging children to repeat new words. Children take part in adult-led activities of specific communication and language programmes. This has made a positive impact on children's language development.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding are well supported. Leaders spend additional funding thoughtfully to provide the extra sessions, meals and resources that children require. Staff work closely with outside agencies to ensure that children have appropriate support in place. All children make good progress from their starting points in development.
• Staff help children to develop healthy lifestyles and good hygiene practices. For example, staff offer a range of healthy fruit and vegetables at snack time. Managers provide parents with information about healthy snacks and lunch boxes. This helps children and parents to understand the benefits of healthy habits.
• Staff support children to develop their imaginations and thinking skills. For example, children dig in the sand area and find stones and think about how they can use them. Staff ask thoughtful questions that help children to come up with their own ideas. Children pretend they have found buried treasure. They develop their critical thinking skills.
• Staff incorporate mathematics well into children's play. For example, children place candles into dough cupcakes, count them and find the corresponding wooden number. This helps to develop children's counting and number recognition skills.
• Partnerships with parents are a strength of the setting. Parents comment that their children receive very good care. They form and build trusting relationships with staff in the best interests of children. Staff support settling-in and transition arrangements well, helping children to feel safe and secure. Parents welcome the effective communication they receive about their children's progress. Staff provide information to help parents to support their children's learning further at home.
• Managers seek feedback from families, schools, children and staff to help them to identify areas of the setting to improve. They intend to organise workshops where parents learn how they can support their children's development at home.
• Managers support the staff team well. They ensure to meet with each member of staff regularly to discuss their work. Managers provide support focused on where they want staff to enhance their knowledge and skills and provide them with opportunities for training. For example, staff have attended a course on offering practical experiences to children, such as using hammers, allowing children to learn safety skills.
• Staff provide children with varied activities that spark children's interests. However, on occasions, staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn during group activities. This means that teaching is not always precisely focused on what children need to learn next.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide further support for staff to carefully plan and implement activities more thoroughly to build on children's learning.