Learning Pandas Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this nursery. Staff welcome children warmly at the door and children are very happy to be at nursery. Staff and parents have strong relationships. Staff take the time to talk to each parent when children arrive. This means that the children's transitions between home and nursery are easy.

There is a calm and positive atmosphere in every room, with lots of high-quality interactions between staff and children. Leaders work tirelessly to provide a happy environment both for children and staff. Staff praise children regularly and children feel proud to receive this praise, responding with big smiles. Children feel safe and secure at this nursery. If they need comfort or reassurance, they approach staff for cuddles or to play with them. This demonstrates the strong relationships between staff and children.

Children participate enthusiastically in the wide range of opportunities available to them. They benefit from the strong focus on nature when they attend weekly forest-school sessions or watch caterpillars or frogs within the pre-school room. This allows children to learn about life cycles and observe plants and trees to learn how they grow and change throughout the year. Children behave very well. When there are any concerns over children's behaviour, staff understand the reason for the behaviour and address it.

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

• There is a clear and progressive programme of learning. The manager understands well what children should learn in each room and how this can be achieved. Staff share this vision and work as a team to help every child achieve their goals.
• Staff talk confidently about what each child knows and needs to learn next. They use this knowledge to plan activities that support children's learning. Staff have high expectations for every child, meaning that children make very good progress. However, there are occasions when children's misconceptions are not corrected by staff.
• Staff plan many high-quality opportunities to support children's communication and language skills. They use repetition effectively for children to develop a wide range of vocabulary. Staff use language constantly throughout the day with the children. For instance, they talk about the activities that children are doing, or the toys that they are playing with. This means that children are exposed to many words throughout the day, which they then start to use in their own conversations with their peers and staff.
• There are many opportunities to promote children's physical development during the day. The layout of the rooms has been designed with children's physical development in mind. Babies climb up steps and enjoy sliding down the other side. They crawl or cruise around the furniture as they explore the room. Toddlers develop their small-muscle skills by stretching play dough, using tweezers and painting with a variety of tools. Pre-school children begin to learn how to hold mark-making tools correctly. They press down on pizza bases to flatten them, and climb, run and jump in the garden area.
• Staff respond quickly to children when they communicate their needs. In the baby room, babies use pointing and babbling to show that they would like more of something during lunch. Staff respond to this by giving babies more food as they explain what they are doing. This means that children learn to express their choices and needs well as they go through the nursery. Staff teach children to understand and express their feelings by naming their emotions during the day. Toddlers and pre-school children are able to explain how happy they feel coming to nursery. In addition, they can express what they do if they feel sad at nursery.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely well. They work with external professionals and parents to plan targets for these children. Staff use children's learning styles and interests to work with them to help them achieve these targets. The knowledge that a member of staff has gained from attending sensory training is used very effectively to support all children.
• The manager supports staff's well-being by ensuring that there are many opportunities for them to speak to her formally and informally to express any concerns they may have. She is very conscious of ensuring that staff's workloads are manageable. Staff work well as a team and speak respectfully to each other. They feel supported and model positive social interactions to children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to address any misconceptions that children may have so that they understand the correct information.