Little Acorns Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Managers have created a warm and nurturing learning environment that children love to attend. Children feel happy and safe and eagerly run into the pre-school to greet their friends and the staff. They confidently put their belongings away and find an activity to play with. Managers and staff have created a curriculum that is ambitious for all children and supports them to advance across all areas of learning. Staff plan and sequence activities well and have high expectations for children. For example, younger children develop mathematics and coordination skills as they play a fishing game. With support from staff, they confidently catch fish in a net and name the colour and the number symbol of each fish. The fish have squeezy pearls inside to support the sensory needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Staff create activities in the outdoor and indoor areas that thoroughly cover the curriculum. They ensure that children who prefer to spend time outdoors make good progress across all the areas of learning.

Children of all ages demonstrate strength and balance as they explore an outdoor obstacle course. They negotiate the space safely and have consideration for themselves and others.

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

• Managers support children to be ready for their next stage of learning and have created a purposeful curriculum. They recognise the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's social skills and have consequently developed a strong focus on personal, social and emotional development. Staff build strong relationships with children and have an effective key-person system in place. However, interactions between staff and children often involve closed questions that do not invite children to elaborate on their ideas and become comfortable using a rich vocabulary.
• Staff enjoy coming to work and feel supported by the managers. They undertake training courses in person and online and enjoy sharing what they have learned with the rest of the team. However, managers do not consistently support staff to strengthen the planning of group activities to ensure that the older and most-able children are provided with further challenge.
• There is a good focus on developing children's language and communication skills in the curriculum. Older children enjoy having conversations with their friends as they play. Staff consistently use sign language to support all children to develop their communication. Children with SEND make good progress in their communications skills, and staff read to children often. However, some group story times are scheduled at the same time as when children who only attend for the morning go home. As a result, some children do not hear the whole story, and the book is disrupted by staff calling the names of children whose parents have arrived to collect them.
• Staff support children to make sense of the wider world and their community. They provide a wide range of experiences to increase children's knowledge of the world around them. For example, they visit local parks, go on nature walks in the village and learn about local jobs, such as when they visit the local butcher. Staff use books and rhymes to develop the children's understanding of the culturally and ecologically diverse world.
• Staff ensure that children have regular opportunities to explore and play with a wide range of materials and express themselves creatively. They provide activities for children to develop their imagination. For example, younger children dress up in costumes and pretend to be someone else, for example a nurse or police officer. Older children enjoy wearing school uniforms from the role-play area. This also helps to prepare them for their transition to primary school.
• Relationships with parents are strong, and managers recognise the impact this has on children's learning and development. Staff go above and beyond to ensure that all families have the support they need. Parents feed back that they are happy with the care their children receive and that children love to attend the pre-school. Parents of the most able children and children with SEND comment that staff offer good, specialised support for their child and that children make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend staff questioning so that children have more opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas with others
• strengthen the planning of group activities to ensure that the older and most- able children are consistently provided with further challenge
• develop group story times so that children can listen without distractions.