Ladybird Children's Nursery - Dudley, Cramlington

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy the time they spend at the nursery. They arrive happily and most separate from their parents with ease and confidence. Staff are kind and nurturing, and they give lots of reassurance to those children who may be unsettled. This makes children feel safe and secure. Children initiate their own play and choose resources that are easily accessible to them. Children's early mark-making skills are emerging as they use a variety of media to draw and write, both indoors and outdoors. Staff nurture children's love of books, which helps them to develop a love of reading. Children happily choose to sit alone or with their friends to look at books together.

Children spend lots of time in the outdoor area, where they develop their large-muscle skills as they ride wheeled toys and scoop sand into buckets. They demonstrate resilience as they keep trying to perfect their balancing skills on the climbing ramp. Staff encourage children's awareness of the expectations of behaviour. They act as positive role models to children, who receive regular praise from staff as they play. This helps with their attempts to try new things and builds their confidence.

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

• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported by the staff team. Staff work very closely with parents and other agencies to support children's progress and understand the needs of individual children. This ensures that children's needs are well planned for, and that early help is identified, where necessary, to close the gaps in their development.
• The nursery is well organised most of the time, and staff plan activities that relate to the children's experiences and interests. For example, children benefit greatly from the soothing properties of water play. This helps children feel calm, settled and confident in their surroundings.
• In the main, staff are attentive to children's needs and are well deployed during some activities. However, children who are more reserved are not sufficiently encouraged to join in and become fully involved. This means they do not always benefit from the possible teaching experiences.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language through their play. For example, children regularly hear words and repetitive phrases, such as through rhymes and singing songs. Staff ask children questions to help them think, and they introduce some new vocabulary. However, some staff have not considered how to help children to move on from using simple words to simple phrases and sentences when talking to an adult or their peers.
• Staff support children to build and balance with construction pieces. They encourage children to recognise colours and count objects as they play. Children are beginning to understand mathematical concepts as they describe the tower as 'a big one'.
• Children are becoming aware of the impact of physical play and a healthy lifestyle and how these contribute to their good health. Staff encourage children to develop their physical skills daily. Children have space to move freely from indoors to outdoors, where their physical development, such as balancing, running and jumping, is promoted.
• Although staff understand children's next steps for their development and share this information with the parents, they have not yet put in place effective arrangements to support children with their toilet training.
• Staff express how well supported they are in their roles. They benefit from regular meetings with the manager, where they review the curriculum to ensure planning is based on children's current interests. Staff have ongoing opportunities to attend further training. This supports staff to continually strengthen their own practice and continuously improve outcomes for children.
• Staff provide daily feedback for parents with information about their child's care and learning needs. Parents have very positive views about the provision. They say that although there has been a number of staff changes, their children's emotional security has always been staff's upmost priority. Parents say communication is good, and they are happy with their children's progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the awareness and skills of all staff so they use a wider range of teaching methods to support all children, including those who are more reserved, to gain the most from the activities provided
• provide more opportunities for younger children to develop, practise and extend their speaking skills
• improve children's independence and readiness for school by implementing a consistent approach to support their toilet training.