Little Deers Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from staff support to challenge and extend their physical skills during play at this lively nursery. Staff help babies develop hand-eye coordination as they reach for picture books and learn to crawl. Staff build obstacle courses that challenge older children to balance and jump independently. In addition, staff take children on local walks through the forest to explore nature and climb logs. This develops children's physical skills and love of the outdoors while keeping them active throughout the day.

Staff follow children's interests closely. They encourage children's curiosity, such as when pre-school children investigate tree bark in search of minibeasts. Staff help children to describe and identify the insects they collect, which helps to extend their knowledge. Children engage well with activities, with staff linking learning to fun experiences that they can relate to. For instance, staff support toddlers to prepare and 'cook' pretend birthday cakes. Staff also use this task to help young children apply their emerging understanding of number. For example, children count the cakes on their baking trays and observe that a cupcake can be split into two halves.

Nurturing staff set clear expectations for children's behaviour. Children show their understanding by giving their peers a 'thumbs up' to congratulate them when they follow the rules. Consequently, children learn to play well together and keep each other safe.

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

• Staff use skilful questioning techniques that help older children talk about what they know in more detail. For example, staff support children to think about what happens to water when it is absorbed by the earth. Staff link this to previous activities where children learned that plants need water to grow. Consequently, children learn to apply their evolving knowledge of the world in different practical contexts.
• There is good support for children's speech and language. Staff collaborate with specialist professionals to provide language activities that help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to make rapid progress. Leaders have used early years pupil premium funding to buy role-play resources that spark conversation to support children to become confident talkers. This has helped children narrow any emerging gaps in their speech and language.
• Staff follow the nursery's ethos of planning in the moment, which they explain builds on children's natural curiosity. Staff know their key children well and, as a result, seize opportunities to teach new knowledge through play. However, the aims of the curriculum have not been consistently explained to all staff. As a result, staff's understanding varies as to what it is they want children to learn over time. This does not enable staff to target children's ongoing development precisely enough.
• Leaders take care to support staff's well-being, especially during periods of substantial change. Recently, leaders and staff have helped children and parents manage a significant move to temporary accommodation while waiting for the completion of new purpose-built premises. Staff engaged children in the transition process by arranging visits to see diggers at the developing building site. Additionally, staff's positivity for the project has helped all children settle quickly into the new building and make full use of the expanded outdoor learning areas.
• Staff embed the teaching of fire safety awareness throughout the nursery. Staff run fire drills with children and encourage them to recall together the instructions they must follow. Staff also organise practical role-play activities that teach children how to stay safe around fire, for example when roasting marshmallows around a fire pit. Staff link these demonstrations to children's own experiences of making campfires with their families. As a result, children can confidently talk about the dangers of fire.
• Staff create an inclusive environment by teaching children about a diverse range of families. For example, staff show books to children with characters who have two mums or two dads. In addition, on Mother's Day and Father's Day, staff help children celebrate any family member that is important to them. Parents and carers praise these celebrations of modern family life that help children understand an array of family backgrounds.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's understanding and teaching of the curriculum to consistently build on what children know and can do.