Lanterns Arts & Educational Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff plan the environment to play a key role in supporting children's learning. Leaders ensure that the spaces where children play are fun, interesting and varied. This helps to develop children's imaginations. For example, staff plan role-play areas to give children opportunities to explore familiar environments and share their experiences with their friends. They provide enrichment activities, such as dance and art, to build children's confidence and to support their independence. Staff listen carefully to children's views and plan the environment to enable children to make independent choices about what they play with. They listen carefully to children's views and opinions. This helps children to feel valued, and they settle well into the nursery.

Overall, children behave well and learn the skills they need to have positive social interactions with others. Staff demonstrate sharing, turn taking and manners, which they expect of children. Children learn about the impact of their behaviour on others. This supports children to have a positive attitude to their learning, and they play happily with their friends. Staff support all children to engage with the play and learning opportunities available. Children make good progress and are ready when it is time to move on to their next stage of learning, including starting school.

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

• Staff have a good understanding of child development and children's individual learning needs. Babies hear lots of sounds, words and early language. Staff encourage children's mathematical development throughout the day. Younger children learn to recognise and match colours. Older children confidently develop their counting and numeracy skills during focused activities.
• Children enjoy opportunities to listen to stories, sing songs and explore books throughout the day. Children come together with their friends for scheduled reading and song sessions led by a member of staff. At other times, children choose books to look at independently or share with a friend. This helps to develop children's love of reading and early language development.
• Children enjoy a wide range of activities and experiences that help them to develop their skills and interests. There are a number of dedicated spaces in the nursery for children to learn in, such as a separate art room, dining hall, dance studio and soft-play room. These opportunities enrich the curriculum and add exciting opportunities, which are accessible to all children.
• Some children struggle when it is time to transition to a new space. Staff do not consistently support them to understand where they are going or what is happening next. For example, the transition to mealtimes in the dining hall becomes noisy and chaotic. This means that some children take time to settle into the new activity, and this has an impact on their behaviour.
• Staff support children's physical development well through a range of activities, including music, movement and dance. This promotes children's understanding of their bodies, how they engage with others and their interaction with the environment. Babies learn to be confident crawlers and walkers. Older children develop an awareness of their bodies, how to manage their self-care and keep themselves safe as they play.
• At the end of every day, staff let parents know what their child has enjoyed and how their learning can be supported at home. Parents attend a termly meeting with their child's key person and can view their child's observation records at any time. This helps parents to engage with their child's learning and supports any requests for additional support from outside agencies.
• Leaders have good relationships with the staff team, and this has a positive impact on staff retention. The long-standing staff team enjoy their roles and get to know children well. Although leaders are approachable, the current supervision arrangements do not fully support staff to identify areas for development in their practice and individual training needs.
• Leaders are aware of their responsibilities to liaise with external agencies if there are any concerns about a child's development or if there are safeguarding concerns. Leaders make referrals in a timely manner and follow the guidance provided as required. This ensures that children are kept safe and any gaps in their learning are addressed swiftly.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider how to better support children's understanding of the daily routine to help them to transition more easily between activities
• extend arrangements to provide individualised support, coaching and training for staff, to further extend their practice.