Little Angels Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff happily welcome children when they arrive at the setting. Children are keen to come inside and quickly settle down to play, choosing from the wide range of toys and activities available to them. Staff have developed warm relationships with children. They respond to children's needs and promote their well-being through positive interactions. For example, they complement children on their Christmas jumpers and celebrate their achievements. This promotes children's self-esteem and helps them to feel secure during their time at the setting. The setting has some rules in place, such as 'being kind' and 'taking turns', to support children to behave well and make the right choices.

Staff teach children about making healthy choices. For example, they provide freshly-prepared, nutritious meals and encourage them to drink throughout the day. They give children clear and consistent messages about hygiene. Staff successfully support children to become independent in some aspects of self-care, such as handwashing, from a very young age. They ensure that all children benefit from regular access to the outdoor environment. Children thoroughly enjoy accessing a range of opportunities to develop their small and large muscles. This positively supports children's physical development.

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

• Staff plan engaging activities that build on what children already know. They have clear intentions for children's learning. Staff talk with children during activities and ask them to recall prior learning. However, they do not always identify opportunities to further extend children's learning. For example, when sorting minibeasts, they discuss some of their features. However, they do not maximise all opportunities to challenge all children further during learning opportunities. On occasion, this prevents children from moving on in their learning to the highest possible level.
• Staff engage in constant dialogue with children. They speak clearly and model language well, introducing new words such as 'hippopotamus' to broaden children's vocabulary. Staff share a variety of books with children. Children enjoy the warm interactions and cuddles they receive from staff as they share stories. They handle books carefully. Staff encourage children to talk about what they can see in the pictures and ask them questions about the stories, repeating back to children to model speech correctly. This supports children's communication and language and fosters a love of books, which prepares children well for early reading later on.
• Leaders and staff have the same ambition for all children. They make effective adaptations for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff work in close partnership with parents and other professionals, such as health visitors, to support children's development effectively based on individual SEND needs. As a result, children with SEND receive the help and support they need to move forward with their learning and development.
• Staff provide opportunities and experiences that support all children's wider personal development effectively. For example, children visit a local care home and the library. Staff teach children about different celebrations, such as Christmas, and the importance of valuing and respecting others' beliefs. This helps to deepen children's knowledge of the local community and understanding of the world.
• Staff have clear expectations and apply consistent boundaries that support older children to behave well. As a result, they show positive attitudes to their learning through high levels of engagement and concentration. Younger children generally play happily and are not unkind to others. However, the expectations for younger children's behaviour are sometimes less clear. This means that, at times, they are less well supported to understand their feelings and manage their own behaviour.
• Leaders have developed effective systems for sharing information with parents. For instance, they have introduced parent questionnaires and feedback forms. Parents are positive about the level of care their children receive and they feel well supported. Leaders ensure that staff have access to helpful training to support their professional development. They have a clear vision and strategy for the future development of the setting to further improve what they offer.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further support staff to identify opportunities to extend learning to help children make the best possible progress in their learning
• support staff to implement more consistent messages about the expectations for children's behaviour.