Little Cherubs Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and happy at this welcoming nursery. They demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and readily engage in the interesting activities on offer. Children play cooperatively with their friends. They take on each other's ideas and make up games, such as building a 'dinosaur world'. Children build affectionate bonds with staff and feel comfortable to ask for help. Staff are caring and responsive to children's needs. They have high expectations for children's behaviour and praise them for using good manners. This helps children feel safe and secure.

Staff encourage and support children to be independent from the start. They model what they want children to learn and then allow them plenty of time to try for themselves. For example, babies use big strokes to make marks with paintbrushes dipped in water. Toddlers share story books with great enthusiasm in their role-play with dolls. Children in the pre-school room draw superheroes with special powers that spread happiness. Staff develop and extend children's responses to keep them motivated and engaged.

Toddlers and pre-school children benefit from daily access to the well-equipped nursery garden and thoroughly enjoy their time in it. For example, older children are supported to extend their imaginative play as they use natural materials to make pretend pancakes with a variety of toppings in the play kitchen.

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

• Leaders manage the nursery with integrity and a strong commitment to continually improve. For example, children's love for reading has improved due to changes sparked by leaders in the curriculum. Staff plan activities to cover areas of learning based around a book, which is proving highly successful. For example, in the toddlers' room, they focus on a book that encourages children's sharing and turn-taking skills. Staff consistently guide children through the process as they encounter situations that require taking turns.
• Children's awareness of other cultures is developing well. For instance, staff teach children about Eid and the significance of fasting during Ramadan. Children learn that by fasting, Muslim people reflect on the importance of showing compassion towards others less fortunate. Children greet staff and say 'Eid Mubarak'. In this way, children show a deeper understanding of different people's ways of life.
• Children develop an understanding of the world around them. They are provided with real-life experiences in the local community. For example, they go on outings by train and regularly visit the park to develop their running, climbing and balancing skills. However, staff do not explain the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle to children. They do not consistently teach the effect on the body of being physically active, following good hygiene routines and making healthy food choices. In addition, younger children do not routinely benefit from being active in the fresh air. This does not support their physical health and well-being.
• Leaders ensure that staff's mandatory training is up to date. They have recently identified the need for staff to use more open-ended questions and help children think critically before responding. However, individual staff's knowledge and skills are not enhanced enough through professional development programmes to help raise the quality of their teaching to the highest level. For example, staff singing songs at a fast pace does not allow young children to listen, process and retain new language.
• Overall, children have a sound understanding of daily routines. However, some routines are not consistent across the provision. For instance, in some rooms, staff do not encourage children to tidy away their toys after use. This creates a disorganised learning environment where children step over the resources.
• Parents are highly complimentary of the staff and the opportunities on offer at the nursery. They comment on the good communication, regular updates and photographs of their child's daily activities. Parents use these ideas to continue to support their children at home. They say their children show increased confidence and staff are preparing them well for their move on to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen professional development opportunities to provide individual staff with more targeted coaching to develop their teaching skills to the highest level
• ensure that staff give clear messages to children about the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle
• develop further the consistency of routines to help children understand the importance of maintaining them.