Little Dragon's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders are passionate about the provision. Since the last inspection, they have welcomed support from the local authority early years team. They have worked very hard to stabilise the staff team and improve the quality of education provided. Leaders have an ambitious vision for the nursery curriculum. Children are excitable about attending. They engage well in a broad range of activities staff provide. For example, babies enjoy the sensory experience of playing with play dough and sand. They also like early pretend play using role-play toys. Toddlers and pre-school children enjoy whole-group yoga and story sessions. They really like engaging with bubbles outside. Overall, children are making good progress in their development.

Staff are warm, positive and reassuring. Babies settle quickly and demonstrate they are comfortable attending. Toddlers and pre-school children are very relaxed within the nursery environment. Children are welcoming, polite and very curious about new visitors. Pre-school children confidently recall what they have been doing during their time at nursery. They comment that they particularly like playing with their friends. Staff promote the nursery rules consistently throughout the day. As a result, children are clear about the expectations. They are calm and behave well.

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

• Recruitment and induction are robust, and leaders support new staff to fully understand their duties. Staff morale is good and they comment that they feel very well supported in their roles. However, some staff are more confident when teaching than others. This means there is scope for leaders to continue to develop and build on staff confidence in this area.
• The premises are secure and children are safe. Staff meet children's care needs and promote their independence from an early age. Babies cooperate with key care routines, and toddlers and pre-school children learn to manage their own self-care. Children learn about the importance of healthy eating through imaginative books, which they eagerly discuss at lunchtime. Staff also teach children a familiar song when washing their hands to help them learn about the importance of reducing the spread of germs.
• Leaders ensure that staff are knowledgeable about their safeguarding roles. They work well with multi-agencies, including local safeguarding partners, to ensure that the most vulnerable children and their families are well supported. Staff provide children with opportunities to learn about how to keep themselves safe. Toddlers and pre-school children enjoy trips in the local community. As a result, they have recently been learning about the importance of road awareness and people who help us, specifically the police and water safety.
• Staff routinely observe and assess children's abilities. They make effective use of children's interests to plan activities that promote key targets in their learning.
• For example, toddler and pre-school children showed great interest in the inspector's laptop during the inspection. Staff recognised this and set up a creative activity where children could make their own 'laptops'. Staff skilfully used the activity to support children to practise their pencil control and scissor skills. However, staff do not always carefully consider how the organisation of daily routines impacts on children's ability to make their own play choices. As a result, there are times when children's options become narrowed and their choices more limited.
• Staff understand the importance of talking to children and modelling language. They make use of various visual support tools, including signs and flashcards, to help children learn how to communicate effectively. Leaders ensure that all children are assessed on entry using a nationally recognised programme, and this is routinely monitored. Early help is provided for children requiring it, which means no child falls behind.
• Parents and carers speak highly of leaders and positively report on their children's experiences at this nursery. Leaders have proactively enhanced parent partnerships and have plans in place to work even more collaboratively with them in the future. However, these are not yet embedded in practice. Therefore, there is room to sharpen the focus of the two-way communication with parents to help further extend children's learning between the setting and home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to develop and build on staff confidence to enhance the quality of teaching even further
• consider carefully the organisation of routines to help maximise opportunities for children to make their own play choices and build on their learning
• sharpen the focus of the two-way communication with parents to help work more collaboratively on extending children's learning between the setting and home.