Ladybirds Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are wonderfully content and happy in the safe, welcoming nursery. They form strong bonds with the warm and caring staff, who greet them with hugs and smiles. Children quickly settle to play with the broad range of stimulating activities and resources. For instance, older children are soon building models with construction toys, while babies enjoy cuddles and stories.

Children respond well to the staff's high expectations for their behaviour. They are sensitively supported by staff to cope with any overwhelming feelings and emotions. Children use strategies, such as a sand timer, to share resources between them and their friends with minimal support from staff. This supports them to understand and negotiate the needs of others in positive ways.

Children demonstrate motivation and lots of imagination. They explore and investigate their environment and share the joy of their discoveries with staff. For instance, a feather found on a beach walk becomes a 'magical feather' and a departing ferry becomes the 'Titanic'. Babies love repeating and practising new skills, such as jumping, walking and talking.

Children who are in receipt of additional funding are supported well and additional resources are used effectively. This helps to improve and build on their abilities, skills and knowledge. All children are provided with a strong platform on which to springboard their future learning, such as when they go to school.

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

• The manager is a highly passionate and dedicated practitioner who leads a strong team of like-minded staff. The nursery prides itself on providing a 'family-centred' approach to ensuring children have the best possible experiences in life. There are lots of opportunities for staff to develop their professional skills and knowledge. This has a positive impact on the learning and well-being of the children.
• Staff know their children well. Children make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language. However, some staff are not consistently clear about how to modify and adapt the curriculum to work with children's emerging interests and skills. They do not always have the robust knowledge and understanding to enable them to build sequentially on children's learning.
• Children across the nursery enjoy stories, songs and rhymes. Staff develop children's communication and language skills in meaningful ways. For instance, toddlers are captivated by cutting up and tasting new foods after reading a story about 'The Hungry Caterpillar'. Older children experience the sounds and sensations of the coast as they sit on the beach and listen to stories of the seaside. This develops children's understanding of new words and contexts.
• Children have space and opportunities to develop their physical skills. Babies improve their strength and balance as they crawl and pull themselves to stand up. Toddlers develop their coordination and movement when they dig in the sand and negotiate obstacles when they push dolls' prams. Older children begin to challenge and improve their skills when they climb to the top of the climbing frame. They think about moving their bodies in new ways, such as when they practise Yoga poses.
• Staff adapt routines well to help young children feel secure and happy. For instance, they quickly recognise when babies need sleep or are hungry. This prevents children from becoming overwhelmed or distressed. However, some routines for older children are not so well planned. For instance, staff are not deployed effectively to make the most of opportunities to promote children's independence and listening and attention skills, such as during mealtimes and group activities.
• Staff recognise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's personal, social and emotional skills. They have focused on supporting children to develop their confidence and social skills when they are with others. This includes helping children understand how to share and take turns to sustain enjoyable games with friends. For instance, children pretend to be builders as they share the 'tools' and talk about what they need to do next.
• Parent partnerships are very strong. Parents compliment the dedication of staff and appreciate the information they share with them about their children's learning. They comment on the 'personal' support they and their children receive. For example, parents comment that the activities and communication staff have provided during the pandemic are particularly praiseworthy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to fully understand and embed a curriculum that builds on children's skills and interests in a sequential way, to extend learning
• review deployment of staff at routine times to help promote children's developing independence, listening and attention skills more effectively.