Little Acorns Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show positive relationships with staff. For example, children in the baby room snuggle up to staff when unfamiliar people enter the playroom. Pre-school children are supported to learn about their emotions and feelings. For example, staff talk to them about how a monster is feeling in a book. Children are asked to look in mirrors to make happy, confused and sad faces. They talk about their feelings, saying that when they cuddle a soft toy monster, it makes them happy.

Children who speak English as an additional language are supported well with their communication and language skills. For example, staff use key words in their home language to support their understanding, such as when they start toileting. Pre-school children use pictures to show staff and their peers what they want. This includes showing images of asking for help and to share, wait and stop. This helps them to communicate their thoughts and needs.

Children are encouraged to share the toys they play with. When they do this, children receive praise from staff, helping to raise their self-esteem. Children in the baby room relish the praise they receive for their achievements. They go to all adults and some of the children to receive a 'high five' and a fist bump from them.

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

• The management team observes staff's practice. They give them feedback and help staff to develop their knowledge of how to support children's learning. For example, staff receive in-house training to build on their understanding of the different ways children prefer to learn. This helps them plan an environment to meet children's individual needs.
• Parents are asked to sign their children in and out of the nursery. Qualified staff supervise children well when they play indoors and outdoors. This contributes to promoting their safety. Any accidents or injuries children obtain are clearly recorded and shared with parents.
• Staff have a good knowledge of their key children's abilities and what they need to learn next and how they intend to help them progress. However, this information is not always shared fully across the staff team. At times, staff do not recognise how best to help some children with their learning. Therefore, sometimes children do not make the most progress they are capable of.
• Staff support children to be independent. For example, in the baby room, they ask children to get tissues to wipe their noses. In the toddler room, children have the responsibility of cleaning the tables and washing cups and bowls after snack time. Children in the pre-school room serve themselves food at lunchtime.
• The management team and staff understand what they want children to learn. Part of the curriculum is to support children's physical skills. For example, in the baby room, staff provide opportunities for children to climb and balance, helping to develop the large muscle in their bodies. However, these experiences are not fully offered to all children throughout the nursery to enable all children to have the same experiences to develop this aspect of their learning.
• Additional funding is used effectively to enable children to follow their interests to support their learning. For example, when children show an interest in dolls, staff purchase further dolls and provide opportunities for children to bath them. Children work together with their peers to bath the dolls, helping to develop their social skills and understanding of how to meet their own personal needs.
• Staff implement rules and boundaries to help children to understand what is expected of them. These include for children to use their 'walking feet', 'listening ears' and 'magnet eyes'. Children in the toddler room make circles with their hands and put them to their eyes to create 'magnet eyes' when they look for toys to put away at tidy-up time. However, some daily routines are not as effective. For example, occasionally during mealtimes, staff do not implement agreed strategies to help engage children in learning. This results in children becoming restless.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the sharing of information between children's key person and other staff so that children's learning and development is further supported during play
• support staff to implement the curriculum for all children to develop the large muscles in their bodies
• support staff to implement agreed routines at mealtimes to support all children to remain engaged in learning.