Ladybird Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident in the nursery. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Children readily introduce themselves and their friends to visitors and are keen to find out what they are doing. They develop extremely close bonds with their key persons. Staff understand children's needs well. For example, when toddlers wake from their sleep, staff gently stroke their hair for comfort and softly speak to them.

Older children spend a large amount of time in the forest garden. Staff understand that this benefits children who enjoy learning outdoors. They support children's play well to encourage them to develop their imaginative skills. Staff are skilful in providing just the right amount of support to ignite children's imagination. For instance, staff join in with children's play as they make a pretend boat. Children use funnels, climb up the climbing frame and pretend to look for sharks in the ocean that they are 'sailing' in.

All children enjoy being physically active. Staff provide support for young babies as they are pulling themselves up to stand and learning to walk. Toddlers develop their gross-motor skills and core strength as staff support them to use the outdoor climbing frame. They demonstrate high levels of concentration and staff praise their efforts, helping to boost their confidence.

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

• The manager and staff have taken appropriate action following a recent incident at the nursery. They have reviewed their staff deployment and have added some additional training to support staff's leadership skills. However, due to staff shortages, opportunities to monitor staff practice have not been frequent enough to help raise the quality of teaching to an even higher level.
• Staff provide a curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. They gather information when children start at the nursery to establish their starting points. Staff regularly observe children and incorporate their likes and next steps into the planning to ensure that all children continually make good progress. Staff are quick to adapt activities to meet the individual learning needs of the children. As a result, all children feel included and can join in with the activities.
• Leaders have the same high ambition for all children. Additional funding is used well to ensure that children who need further support get the help that they need. There is an effective key-person system that allows all staff to be aware of children's next steps and individual needs. As a result, staff talk with confidence about the children and how they plan to help them achieve their goals.
• The manager and staff have placed a focus on supporting children's speech and language development. Staff talk slowly and clearly to children to help them hear the clear pronunciation of words. Staff repeat words back to children to help increase the number of words they use. However, staff often ask closed questions and do not always allow children enough time to respond. This means that, at times, children do not get the opportunity to extend their thinking further, as they use single words to answer.
• Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They are good role models and demonstrate kindness and good manners. As a result, children behave well, share resources and are kind to their friends.
• Partnerships with parents and carers are a particular strength of the nursery. Parents express that the staff are supportive of their family's needs. Staff take time to talk to parents when children arrive at the nursery. Parents express that they value the close bonds that their children make with their key persons and are happy with the good progress that their children make.
• The well-being of staff is a priority for the manager. She has ensured that staff have access to a wealth of resources to support their mental well-being. The manager displays a personal 'thank you' message, in the staff room, to each member of staff to value their contribution. As a result, staff state that they feel well supported and benefit from a strong working relationship.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance opportunities to monitor staff's practice and use this to build their knowledge and skills even further
• support staff to develop their questioning techniques to further extend children's thinking skills and allow them time to respond.