Little Angels @ Woolton Village Nursery And Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this caring nursery. They quickly settle as they arrive, greeted by the enthusiastic and nurturing staff. Children's emotional well-being is supported through the positive relationships that children form with staff. Children feel safe and secure. Children are polite as they ask their friends 'excuse me, please'. They are kind to each other and share and take turns well.

Children learn about diversity and the wider world through a range of activities and discussions, including finding out about different cultural celebrations. Staff have developed a good relationship with a local care home. Children visit the older people who live there and leave them cards and drawings. They have visits from the fire service and dentists. Leaders have recently adopted a lion to discuss the care and importance of animals in other countries. This develops the children's understanding of people and the place where they live.

Children of all ages demonstrate high levels of confidence. They can independently access a wide range of resources that spark their interest and curiosity. Staff weave mathematical concepts throughout children's play and at routine times of the day. Children are encouraged to count out farm animals and place a value on the total number they select. In addition, they count how many items of food are on their plate at mealtimes. Children are developing positive attitudes to learning.

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

• Staff understand the needs of their individual key children. They assess children's developmental needs with the help of parents, as they settle in at nursery. The experienced staff continually review whether children have retained the knowledge and understanding that they gain. From this they plan more challenging next steps in learning, based on children's interests. Children enjoy activities based on what they know and can do. For example, staff adopt a sensitive and caring approach in helping children to use the toilet. This promotes children's confidence, self-esteem and sense of achievement.
• Children benefit from quality conversations with staff, who comment on what they are doing. Staff introduce new vocabulary, such as 'snore', while reading stories. They point to objects in books and encourage babies to repeat words. Babies join in with the actions of nursery rhymes sung by enthusiastic and passionate staff. This helps to develop children's language skills well.
• Children benefit from daily fresh air and exercise. The well-organised and stimulating outdoor area provides many opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. For example, children of all ages confidently climb apparatus and delight in obstacle courses. They use crates and lengths of wood to build a climbing structure to walk and balance across. This helps them to use the structure safely, while challenging their physical skills.
• Staff promote being healthy by encouraging children to make healthy choices. For example, children are given the choice between a wide variety of exotic fruit at lunchtime. Many of the children choose a healthy piece of fruit and name the 'pineapple' or 'watermelon' as their favourite. They describe the fruit as 'yummy' and 'tasty'.
• Staff provide exciting learning experiences for children. For example, children learn about how to recycle effectively and the benefits this has on the environment. All children enjoy outdoor forest-school activities. This includes sensory experiences for babies and toddlers, where they explore natural materials. Pre-school children benefit from regular visits to a nearby forest and experience fire and toasting food. These activities help children to manage risk and solve problems.
• Parents confirm that they feel their children are safe and well cared for by all staff. They explain how information is shared with them and how they are encouraged to support their children's learning at home. Parents confirm that their children have learnt a range of skills since attending the nursery.
• Leaders are ambitious and are committed to providing high-quality care for children. They provide staff with good opportunities for training and encourage professional development. This helps staff to enhance their knowledge and skills and improve outcomes for children. Staff comment that they feel well supported and their workload is manageable. However, at times, some staff do not maintain full knowledge of the nursery procedures, as expected by the leaders. On occasion, some practices, such as some parents' verbal handover, are not consistent.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the impact of staff supervision, coaching and mentoring to ensure all nursery procedures are maintained and that practices are consistent.