Leaps and Bounds Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the welcoming and extremely nurturing environment. They demonstrate that they feel very safe and secure, and they are very confident and motivated learners. Highly skilled staff know the children exceptionally well and plan an extremely effective curriculum that helps them to make excellent progress in their learning. Staff are passionate and knowledgeable and have high expectations for the children to achieve. They plan challenging activities for the children. For instance, children use tweezers to put different-sized pom-poms in a bottle to promote their mathematical skills as they count and talk about the different sizes. Children solve problems as they work out how to get them out using the tweezers. Children excitedly re-enact the story of 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' using the small-world resources, and staff use effective questioning to enhance their learning and promote their early literacy skills.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They talk with confidence about the expectations and explain the consequences of their behaviour. Highly effective partnerships with other agencies ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are extremely well supported. Children feel secure in the setting because safeguarding is given an exceptionally high priority by the dedicated staff, who are highly skilled and confident in this area.

Partnership with parents is highly effective. Parents talk about how well the staff know their children and the excellent progress their children are making.

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

• The management team is exceptionally knowledgeable and passionate about making sure that every child gets the best start in life. Every child is treated as an individual, and highly skilled staff deliver a rich and varied curriculum tailored to children's individual needs and abilities. For example, when children make fruit kebabs, they use sharp knives carefully to prepare the different fruits and thread them onto sticks. Staff show the children the recipe, and they talk about the different fruits and what they smell and taste like. This supports children's fine motor skills and their learning about healthy lifestyles, and it extends their language successfully.
• Parents speak very highly of staff, who they feel 'go over and above' to make sure that the children are happy and feel secure. Parents value the additional support that staff provide with specific child-related issues such as toilet training, sleeping and tooth brushing. Parents report that children thoroughly enjoy coming to the setting and are making excellent progress. Staff use a variety of methods to keep parents well informed of their child's progress. For example, they use an online system and encourage parents to share what their children are doing at home. This enables staff to plan the next steps in children's learning effectively.
• The management team uses additional funding extremely well to make sure that it supports the children for whom it is provided. For example, they buy specific resources or provide extra sessions to meet the children's needs.
• Passionate staff provide quality learning opportunities for children that are tailored to their individual needs. For example, they make story time extra special by providing resources that the children can retell the story with. They show great excitement as they recount familiar parts of the story. This supports their early literacy skills and communication and language.
• The curriculum for developing children's speech and language is given a high priority. Staff role model language, repeat words and use a national language programme to support all children in this area of their learning. Consequently, children are confident talkers and are keen to engage with staff, visiting adults and the other children.
• Staff teach children how to lead healthy lifestyles exceptionally well. They provide each child with a toothbrush and teach them about good oral health by using a variety of resources to support children in learning the importance of brushing their teeth regularly. Children benefit from nutritious snacks and plenty of exercise in the fresh air, moving their bodies in a variety of ways to enhance their fitness.