Lister Steps Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager and happy and clearly enjoy attending this warm and welcoming nursery. They confidently separate from their parents and carers and quickly settle into the activities available, demonstrating that they feel safe and secure. Staff are kind, patient and attentive in their approach. Children receive an abundance of cuddles and reassurance when needed. They are praised for their efforts, which contributes to their high levels of self-esteem and emotional well-being.

Children are curious and show a positive attitude to learning and trying new things. They independently explore the environment, choosing what they wish to play with. Young children snuggle with staff to look at books. They begin to make marks using crayons and chalk as staff introduce the names of the colours that they choose. Older children develop their counting skills as they line up plastic animals. They create structures using coloured blocks and talk about size as they play. Children make marks in paint and begin to form familiar letters from their names.

Overall, children behave well for their age. They are learning to share and take turns and continue to develop their confidence in social situations following the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are beginning to understand routines and what is expected of them.

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

• Since the last inspection, the manager has made significant improvements to the arrangements that promote children's learning, safety and well-being. Leaders have embraced support from the local authority to help improve requirements. Staff have been provided with relevant training, which has given them the knowledge to recognise concerns about health and safety and the appropriate action to take. As a result, all previous concerns have been addressed and instrumental progress has been made.
• Staff know their children well. They provide activities that reflect children's interests and preferences. However, not all staff fully understand the overarching curriculum and focus precisely on what it is that they want children to learn from these experiences. This means that their teaching is not always sharply focused. Despite this, children are making good progress in the learning.
• Overall, staff support children's language skills well. Those staff working with babies model conversation through babbling and back-and-forth interactions. Staff supporting older children provide a running commentary as children play, which helps to ensure that children hear a wide range of vocabulary. They introduce new language such as 'masterpiece' when children create pictures. However, occasionally, staff do not recognise how dummies can interfere with children's language development.
• There are clear routines throughout the nursery day. However, sometimes the transitions between activities and routines, such as mealtimes or getting ready to play outside, are not always managed appropriately. This means that occasionally, particularly in the Butterfly room, children wait for prolonged periods. This causes children to become restless and disengaged, and their usually good behaviour deteriorates.
• Children make links in their learning and demonstrate good recall skills. For example, older children recently enjoyed listening to the story 'We're Going On a Bear Hunt'. They independently act out the story in the garden area, telling the inspector that they are hunting for bears. They explain that they are squelching through mud and stomping as they move around the garden, giggling with their friends.
• Children have good opportunities to learn about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. They engage in regular physical activities indoors and outside. They create obstacle courses to travel across in turn, developing their coordination and balance. Children benefit from healthy and nutritious meals and snacks and are encouraged to drink water. They understand that they need to wear sun cream and sun hats when the weather is warm.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is strong. Dedicated and passionate staff work closely with parents and external agencies to ensure that any additional support children may require is secured in a swift and timely manner. Furthermore, staff attend training and carry out their own professional research to ensure they are able to meet children's individual and unique needs effectively. As a result, children are making very good progress from their starting points.
• Parent partnerships are robust. Parents are extremely complimentary about the staff team and the service that they provide. They say how much their children enjoy attending and describe the 'excellent' progress they have made. Parents feel well-informed about their children's learning and appreciate the support and guidance that staff give.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to build on their understanding of the curriculum further so that they are fully aware of specific learning outcomes for children and closely match their teaching to these
• assist staff to understand how to support young children's developing communication and language skills
• strengthen transitions between activities and routines so that children's behaviour does not deteriorate, and they remain focused and engaged in learning opportunities.