Little Blue Van (Great Amwell)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and feel safe in this nurturing and caring environment. They develop close and trusting relationships with staff, who put children's well-being and security at the heart of everything they do. Children communicate their feelings well. They confidently tell visitors what they do outside of the nursery, such as visiting the park with their mum, dad and sister.

Children invite their friends and staff to join in their play. They wait patiently for their turn to pay for a pretend cake. Children have plenty of fun and excitedly take part in messy play. After squeezing a plastic container, they enjoy watching red paint spurt into a tray. Children watch, listen to, and follow staff's clear instructions. After carefully dipping raw potato in paint, they press it onto a piece of paper and reveal the mark it makes. Children show a sense of pride at this achievement and smile at staff who give them plenty of praise. They show perseverance as they repeat this action to make a pattern. Children learn how to keep themselves safe through gentle reminders from staff.

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

• The provider and staff are dedicated to ensuring that all children receive high-quality care and education. They are proud to have made improvements to administration within the nursery to help reduce the unnecessary use of paper. In addition, staff use an online system to report useful information to parents about their children's care and learning.
• All parents give positive feedback about the nursery. They talk about how quickly their children settle in. Parents report that staff are 'good with communication'. They also talk about how they are invited to parents' evenings and that they speak to staff about their children's care every day. Parents say that 'the outdoor facilities are really good'. They comment that 'staff are very creative with the way that they set up activities to fire children's imagination'.
• Children benefit from a wide variety of learning opportunities in the extensive outdoor play areas available to them. For example, they have plenty of fun playing in the field as they run after hoops and explore the natural environment. Children are eager to show staff that they can climb to the top of large play equipment safely. The undercover area next to the nursery enables outdoor play in all types of weather.
• Staff regularly conduct risk assessments of areas used by children. They carry out daily safety checks to ensure that the environment remains safe and secure. Staff are effectively deployed throughout the nursery. These measures help to ensure that children's safety and well-being are promoted.
• Staff encourage children to become independent. Children learn the importance of caring for themselves. They are able to use the toilet independently. They also know that they must wash and dry their hands afterwards, and before eating. These are important skills in preparation for their eventual move on to school.
• Children learn about simple mathematical concepts. At snack time, they are encouraged to think about and compare the difference in the size of their water bottles to find out which one is taller. Children show very good concentration and decision-making skills. They push bricks together to build a tower, making sure that they have the correct shape and size.
• Children are extremely well behaved. Staff help children to understand what is expected of them. Children take part in a weekly mindfulness and yoga session, supported by an appropriately trained member of staff. The nursery environment is very calm and children are positively engaged in exciting learning opportunities.
• Staff are provided with regular supervision meetings and training opportunities to help develop their skills and knowledge. However, the impact of training is not consistently evaluated to ensure staff further increase their knowledge and skills.
• Staff complete initial and ongoing observations of children. However, the provider does not sharply monitor how well assessments of children are used to provide the very best level of challenge for each child during group activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• reflect more closely on the impact of training to help evaluate how this contributes to the continued quality of teaching to support children's learning
• review staff's use of assessments during group activities to ensure that they consistently support the learning needs of all children as well as possible.