Little Dreams Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and secure in the setting. Staff warmly welcome each child on arrival, and children separate from their parents with ease. At snack time, each child sits at a table with their key person and a few friends. Children are learning to become competent at cutting their own snack and twisting and opening lids. They benefit greatly from the close attention they receive from staff, who offer them encouragement. This helps to promote children's positive attitudes to learning and helps children to feel self-assured and confident.

Staff set high expectations for children. They benefit from learning opportunities to support their physical development. For example, older children use the small muscles in their hands and fingers as they use tweezers to collect pretend rubbish in the ocean they have created. Younger children balance carefully as they climb steps to the indoor slide. This supports children to develop good physical skills, such as core strength and coordination. Children begin to build early friendships. For example, they show kindness to each other by sharing with their friends. Children receive age-appropriate guidance and support to help them begin to understand the behaviour expected. Staff model good manners and behaviours to the children.

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

• The manager and staff team have a clear vision for the nursery. They evaluate all aspects of the nursery thoroughly and set precise goals for improvement. For example, they are currently working on extending learning for children outside.
• Children benefit from a well-considered environment, which supports their care and learning needs effectively. They make independent choices from a range of interesting and stimulating resources and activities, which inspires their curiosity. For instance, younger children explore sand with different tools and their hands. Older children benefit from resources that challenge their physical skills, such as learning to move themselves on and steer bicycles.
• Staff are good role models to children and support children's understanding of personal hygiene. For example, they quickly attend to younger children's personal needs, such as wiping their noses. Furthermore, older children independently wash their hands after playing outdoors. This helps children to further develop their independence skills.
• Parent partnerships are good and effective. There is ongoing communication with parents. This helps to promote a consistent approach to meeting children's individual needs. Parents speak highly about the nursery, compliment the staff and comment on the progress their children make.
• Staff express that they feel well supported and valued. The manager provides opportunities for staff to develop their practice through additional training, mentoring and coaching. This helps staff to observe, assess and plan activities for their key children effectively.
• All staff understand the importance of encouraging children to develop a love of stories, songs, and rhymes. For example, children join in with the repeated lines from the story called 'The Stick Man'. Children enjoy repeating phrases and guessing what happens next. This helps children to explore a range of new words and begin to understand sequences in stories.
• Children benefit from a well-thought-out curriculum provided by staff, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff use their detailed knowledge of children to provide activities that reflect their interests and their next steps in development. However, children are not always consistently supported to learn what staff intend them to. Staff sometimes lose sight of the learning intentions of some activities and routine experiences.
• Children are familiar with the routines of the day while they are at nursery. This helps to build a sense of belonging and security. However, at times, children's chosen activities are interrupted. For example, staff put the chosen activity away for another routine of the day. This does not support children to be able to concentrate for long periods and deepen their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff's understanding of how to implement the learning intentions for activities, ensuring they are clear on what skills and knowledge they want children to gain
• review routines of the day to allow children time to consolidate and deepen their knowledge through uninterrupted play.