Little Acorns Nursery With Sunrise And Sunset Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children warmly and are genuinely excited to hear their stories from home. Children arrive eager to see what is happening in nursery today. They know where to put their things and settle quickly to their learning. The environment provides a fascinating array of learning experiences indoors and outdoors. Staff play alongside children, keeping them safe and secure as they explore. Children are confident to use resources creatively. For example, they make a telescope from a cardboard tube to watch their friends arrive. Children show real care and concern for each other. They persevere when things get tricky and encourage their friends to do the same. Staff foster a culture of care and respect. Children behave beautifully in response to the high expectations of staff. They take care of each other and their environment. Children are learning to keep themselves safe, particularly on their regular visits to the forest area.

Staff provide learning experiences that build on children's prior learning and experiences. They provide carefully planned activities that follow children's interests. Children make good progress across all areas of the curriculum. They enjoy talking about their learning and the things that they enjoy doing. Leaders have implemented an ambitious curriculum that supports children's communication and language development effectively.

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

• Staff provide engaging learning opportunities that children thoroughly enjoy. For example, children are delighted to find hidden bugs in the soil as they dig. Staff share their excitement and support children to use a poster to identify the bugs they find. Staff and children talk about the names of the bugs and where real bugs might live. This develops children's vocabulary and knowledge of the natural world.
• Leaders have designed a carefully considered curriculum for communication and language. Staff are constantly interacting with children. They skilfully use these conversations to enrich each child's use of language. The curriculum intent accurately meets children's learning needs. Staff plan learning experiences that build on children's language skills and support them to become effective communicators.
• Children enjoy many opportunities to explore number, shape and pattern as they play. Staff support children to revisit their work on pattern as they explore magnetic blocks. In this way, children are practising their skills and building on their learning.
• Staff foster a positive attitude to learning and provide many opportunities for children to be independent. For example, children's wellies are pegged together with their name on. Children change in and out of these with little intervention required from staff and ensure they are put back correctly. When putting on shoes becomes tricky, children persevere, taking real pride in their eventual success.
• Children are taught to have respect for others. They are encouraged to talk about what makes them unique and explore some different cultural festivals. Books and resources in the setting reflect the cultural diversity of Britain as a whole. However, children have little opportunity to explore diversity in their everyday play and interactions in order to help them experience and learn about people, families and communities different to their own.
• Children enjoy a range of physical challenges in the environment. They work together during block play to manipulate and carry large slabs of polystyrene. Children are able to negotiate demanding climbing and balancing equipment. They are becoming aware of their own bodies, while developing strength and stamina.
• Leaders and staff place a strong focus on the literacy curriculum. Children are given many opportunities to recognise and write their own name. They enjoy well-planned activities to develop their knowledge of phonics. Children initiate songs and stories with adults as they play. Staff are immediately responsive to this and they become engrossed in a book or song together. Children are developing a love of stories and an awareness of the meaning of print.
• Leaders are ambitious and passionate about the setting. They have a clear vision and aim to offer a high-quality learning experience for all children. The manager values the staff. She supports staff's professional development and well-being effectively. Staff support each other and work well together as a team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enrich the curriculum to explore diversity further in order to help children learn and understand about people, families and communities different to their own.