Little Dreams Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children warmly as they arrive at this setting. Children separate happily into two areas, one for children aged under three years and another for older children. Younger children start their day with circle time. Children sit with adults to learn about the days of the week. Children request their favourite songs and staff respond willingly. Children are praised for joining in with words and actions. This helps them extend their communication and language skills.

Older children enjoy free play. Staff know children well and use the children's likes and interests to plan activities to support their learning. Children use blocks to build, taking turns to add them to a tower or place them side by side to run cars and trucks over the surface.

The curriculum focus is on developing children's independence. Staff work to ensure that children are able to get their needs met. Children are encouraged to use their voice and become confident to have a go by themselves. Children requiring additional support or with emerging special needs and/or disabilities are supported by staff that have formed secure, warm attachments with them. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour, which is generally good.

All children have access to a wide range of resources in the enclosed garden. Bicycles, tricycles and a slide enable children to practise using large muscles to develop their physical skills in a well-supervised area.

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

• Language and communication are another curriculum focus of the setting. Staff use stories, songs and lots of conversations to help children build and use a wide vocabulary. Young children complete actions and use some words along to their favourite songs. Older children choose books, anticipating the story and repeating familiar phrases. Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported. Staff use shared languages or collect key words from parents to use with children. Children become confident talkers who use their voice to share their thoughts.
• The setting plays a very important role within the local community. Leaders work hard to ensure children and their families are warmly welcomed into a well-resourced and attractive indoor and outdoor learning environment. Leaders and managers promote independence as a high focus for children's learning. Staff also share how they encourage children to be self-sufficient. For instance, children wash their hands for snacks and meals, take off slippers and put on shoes prior to going outside.
• The manager and staff monitor children's progress closely. They make regular observations of children and plan effectively to move them on to their next stage in learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive support to help them make good progress from their starting points. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with parents. Advice and support is requested from the local authority. However, to ensure support is fully effective and children get to reach their full potential, recommendations and strategies from healthcare professionals need to be consistently embedded into children's daily care.
• Parents are happy with the nursery and share how information is exchanged on a daily basis. An online app gives parents information relating to their child's care. Photos and observations are also regularly uploaded. Allocated key persons are known by name to parents. They comment on the information staff share with them at drop-off and collection times. However, some parents comment they would like more opportunities to be involved in their child's learning. Leaders and managers have not engaged parents in the self-evaluation process to help identify areas for development and raise outcomes even further for children.
• Staff feel well supported. They are confident in their roles and carry out their duties with enthusiasm. They work effectively as a team to support the children in their care. Discussions with staff demonstrate that they appreciate the regular supervision they receive and all the opportunities that are available to them to pursue their professional development. The manager uses observations and regular supervision to identify areas for staff training. However, there is scope to further strengthen monitoring systems to ensure new learning is incorporated into daily practice and impacts positively on children's experiences in the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide effective support to all staff, to ensure they consistently meet the needs of children with SEND
• ensure children with additional needs have programmes and recommendations consistently incorporated into their daily care
• support parents to feel further involved in nursery life and their children's learning and development.