Ladybirds Neighbourhood Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery provides all the children in its care with a supportive, clear and ambitious curriculum. This helps children to be curious, engaged individuals who make good progress in their learning. Staff understand the importance of continuously enhancing the environment, and children benefit from their planning 'in the moment'. For example, staff add a pretend coffee shop to the autumn area when children show an interest in pretending to make hot drinks now that the weather is changing. This allows children to build on their curiosity and imagination and to develop new interests in their own time.

Leaders understand the importance of providing a language-rich environment. They encourage staff to provide lots of opportunities for children to use key words. This allows children to express their ideas and try out new vocabulary throughout the day. Children have the opportunity to develop their personal skills and confidence as they progress through the nursery. Staff help children to understand the importance of taking calculated risks. For example, staff and children wear puddle suits and slide down the hill on wet tarpaulin. This allows children to explore risks in a monitored manner in the presence of adults. Children learn to behave safely, and to think and respond to risks as they occur.

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

• Staff have a good use of spoken language and leaders continually support their work to build on children's communication skills. For example, staff narrate children's play or ask appropriate questions. They provide key vocabulary and try and increase the use of these words within the environment. This supports children to develop and use language effectively within their learning.
• The highly motivated leaders understand the needs of the families they support. They work closely with outside agencies to enhance their provision. For example, to promote healthy lifestyles, including oral health, leaders invite parents to take part in activities run by partner agencies. However, leaders do not robustly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of some of the strategies they implement. This means they do not always know the difference these are making to children.
• The nursery environment is very well planned. Children settle into new rooms and environments extremely well. This is due to a clear, progressive structure and curriculum. Staff follow and implement this effectively within each room. This means that all children understand how to access the environment and make the most of the learning on offer.
• The key-person system is mostly used to good effect. Children also have a second key person that can step in when needed. Staff get to know children's personal needs well and they provide effective emotional support. However, information from assessment is not consistently understood by every child's key person. This makes it tricky for them to tailor learning opportunities to help rapidly support progress.
• Leaders support staff to continually improve their understanding of ways in which children learn. For example, staff have access to online learning related to their role. This supports staff to stay up to date on current training and issues so that they can provide children with good-quality teaching and opportunities for learning.
• Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour and conduct. They support children to understand why rules are in place and are on hand to support or provide further clarity should it be needed. For example, staff explain to children why resources have had to be moved from the table at lunchtimes. This means that children understand the expectations, which helps them to stay safe and to learn.
• Leaders work effectively to identify and support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they work closely with parents, implement targets and put plans in place for children while waiting for additional professional support. This means that children continue to progress and any gaps in their learning do not continue to grow.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor and evaluate the impact of curriculum strategies more closely, to help maintain high-quality provision for children
• support all staff to use assessment even more effectively and precisely target individual children's next steps in learning.