Little Dreamers Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter happily and keenly get involved in the activities on offer. Staff provide a broad and interesting range of items and activities, which children explore and investigate with enthusiasm. Children develop useful skills for later learning in school and life. They learn to engage well and concentrate until they have completed a task. Children learn to solve problems. As they play, children can be heard saying, 'This is tricky, I'll try another way.' Staff notice when children can be challenged further. For example, a child threading laces through a board with large holes is encouraged to unthread the lace and then thread it through smaller holes. Activities, such as these, help children to develop good hand-eye coordination.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points. Staff sequence learning well and build on what children already know and can do. For example, young babies use spoons to feed themselves. Toddlers getting ready to move up to pre-school, learn to use metal cutlery and cups without lids. Three-year-old children initially serve lunch at their table. They progress to serving themselves at a central area and carrying their dinner tray to their table. This helps them to prepare for the routine followed in local schools. Children are prepared well for the next stage in their education as they move up through each room in the nursery and on to school.

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

• Staff track children's progress well and identify children who may require additional support. The special educational needs coordinator is knowledgeable and works very well with staff, parents and other agencies to put specific plans in place to support children's development.
• Children develop good literacy skills. From the baby room upwards, children choose to look at books and listen to stories read by staff. They also enjoy a range of activities which help them to develop the physical movements needed for later writing. Babies make marks with their hands and wooden spoons in large trays of oats and with paint dabbers on paper taped to the floor. Toddlers make marks as they search for items in a tray of flour and older children freely draw and paint.
• Children are beginning to learn about different cultures through stories, craft activities and local visits. They draw around their hands and decorate them at Diwali. They visit the local church to look at the Nativity scene at Christmas. However, on a daily basis, staff are less skilled at helping children to understand and respect diversity and differences.
• Three-year-old children demonstrate their developing knowledge of mathematics throughout the day. They choose to count items into jars. They use mathematical language appropriately, for example referring to their rice as 'teeny tiny' while eating lunch. A child purposefully seeks out a ruler to measure the size of his snowman painting. He then announces, 'The ruler is too small, I need another one.' This demonstrates a keen interest in numbers and an understanding of how measuring tools work.
• Children have regular opportunities to play outdoors and engage in physical activities, such as riding tricycles, climbing on the frame and playing team games with the parachute. A visiting dance teacher also leads activities, which help children to balance well and coordinate their movements.
• Children are beginning to learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle. They know to wash their hands to remove germs. They help themselves to drinks of water when thirsty. They talk about the benefits of healthy foods, for example a child says, 'I can see in the dark as I eat peas and carrots.'
• Children behave well. Staff help children to work with others and to regulate their emotions and behaviour. They follow clear procedures for handling behaviour, such as biting, so they are consistent in their approach.
• Staff and parents work well in partnership. They exchange information in a range of ways, which helps to meet children's care needs and to promote their development. Staff provide suggestions of activities to extend children's learning at home.
• The knowledgeable leadership team has a strong vision for the future of this nursery. The company training coordinator leads a clear induction and ongoing supervision process for staff. She devises and is increasingly delivering bespoke training for staff in the nursery to build on their good practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• deepen staff's understanding of how to promote equality and diversity and prepare children for life in modern Britain
• strengthen the link between observation of practice and the support, coaching and training provided to improve staff's knowledge and skills.