Little Angels Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy, confident and settle quickly. They are fully involved in the learning experiences which staff provide from the moment they arrive. For example, children beam when they greet their friends in the home corner and are welcomed into their play. Other children eagerly join staff to explore exciting activities based around space exploration. Staff help children to learn about the world around them, such as changes in the seasons. For instance, they gather snow and ice from the garden for children to investigate and discuss in group activities.

Children behave well. Staff give consistently clear explanations and deal with any negative behaviour calmly and sensitively. They teach children to be kind and respect each other's differences in age-appropriate ways. Staff encourage sharing and taking turns right from the start. For instance, babies are introduced to turn taking as they sing and play a 'special bag game'.

Staff are excellent role models. They successfully support children's developing self-care skills and encourage very good hygiene routines. For example, staff introduce toilet training to younger children and encourage them to wash their hands themselves before eating. Older children confidently use the bathroom independently. They know that after blowing their nose they must put their used tissue in the bin, understanding that this reduces the spread of 'germs'. This helps to support children's physical health and well-being very well.

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

• The dedicated managers have made positive improvements since the previous inspection. They provide a well-sequenced curriculum that is supported successfully by staff's clear understanding of children's needs and interests. The curriculum builds on what children already know. This helps staff to consider children's next steps in development and plan focused activities to help them to move forward.
• Key persons quickly identify children with specific needs and involve parents fully in the plans for these children. This means that children receive very good consistency in their care and learning. The special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator and staff have developed strong relationships and partnerships with all professionals working with children and their families. Staff use additional funding well to support children to make good progress.
• Overall, staff place a sharp focus on children's communication and language skills during children's activities and experiences. They use a clear commentary, hand signs and visual clues with children of all abilities. For example, babies and toddlers begin to sign 'please' and 'thank you' during mealtimes. This promotes children's personal, social and emotional development, and gives them firm foundations for their future learning.
• Parents are very happy with the care provided by the caring and friendly staff. They are now more involved with their child's learning and development, which includes the progress check when children are aged between two and three years. Parents say they welcome the advice and resources given to help them to support their child at home, such as activity ideas. Children take books from the nursery to read with their parents, to aid their literacy skills further.
• Staff teach consistently in a well focused and stimulating way. They seamlessly move around the play areas to support children to stay engaged during play. However, while staff ask thought-provoking questions, they do not consistently give children the time they need to respond to develop their language and thinking skills to even higher levels. Some staff step in with the answer too quickly. This does not support all children to make the best possible progress, in particular younger or quieter children.
• Managers have an accurate evaluation of the nursery and value the opinions of staff, parents and children. They have a clear plan in place to develop and improve further, such as continuing to improve the outdoor area to provide a greater range of resources and activities for children to develop in all areas of learning. However, although staff give children opportunities to explore and understand how things work, staff do not give children full support to help develop their skills of using and caring for digital devices and equipment ready for their move on to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give all children more time to consider their responses to questions, to enable children to extend their communication and thinking skills
• extend children's exploration and understanding of how things work to help them to develop their skills and understanding.