Little Explorers Community Nursery Blackerhill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this inspirational and nurturing nursery. Leaders and staff support all children to make excellent progress in their learning and development. The passionate and enthusiastic staff know each individual child very well. All children arrive excited at this welcoming nursery and settle with ease. Staff plan a wide range of engaging activities that children are thrilled to join in with and explore. All children benefit from superb support from staff, who understand each child's unique interests and ways of learning. Consequently, this helps to support the emotional well-being of children and their families, which staff consider to be fundamental to making excellent progress. Parents are welcomed into the setting and have positive and highly effective relationships with staff. Children are enthusiastic learners.

Leaders construct an exceptionally ambitious curriculum that is accessible and inclusive to all. This enables all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language, to thrive. Children demonstrate exceptional independence skills and manage their self-care superbly. They are thoroughly well prepared for the next phase in their learning journey. Staff are exemplary role models and have exceptionally high expectations of children's behaviour. Staff teach children to learn to cooperate with each other and take turns extremely well. For example, when engaging in an outdoor game, all children take a turn to choose a 'silly', 'runner' or a 'jumping' bean to indicate an action, enhancing their physical and social development

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

• Staff plan rich opportunities to teach children about the world around them and their community. For example, children frequently engage in charity work and giving back to the community. Children raise funds supporting charities and food banks.
• Children with SEND receive superb support. The passionate and knowledgeable leaders and staff build excellent relationships with parents and external professionals to support children to achieve positive outcomes. They have individualised plans for children with SEND that staff frequently review and discuss with parents.
• The ambitious curriculum for all children is interesting and exciting. Staff provide excellent learning opportunities for children to develop their listening and attention skills. This enables children to broaden their experiences and build secure foundations for their future learning.
• There is a structured and responsive approach to communication and language skills development. For example, staff teach children signs for 'pig', 'duck' and
• 'more'. They repeat animal sounds for babies to copy when playing with farm animals. Staff repeat single words clearly for young children to help them pronounce the sounds. They enrich the language of older children during their play. For instance, they name unfamiliar animals while children play with a tray of ice with models of creatures that live in a cold climate.
• Staff expertly support children's communication and language skills development. They plan activities around the core stories they want children to learn. Children use puppets and resources to retell the story and engage in imaginative play. Children look at books independently and share books with their peers. Staff model language, introduce children to a wide array of vocabulary and teach children to use past and present tense in their speech.
• Leaders have embedded a rigorous system to support and monitor the development of staff and take pride in their team. Staff receive coaching and mentoring to help them confidently perform to their full potential. Leaders observe staff teaching and strive for excellence for children. They make excellent use of self-evaluation. They clearly identify areas to improve and value input from parents and other professionals. This helps them to maintain the quality of the provision.
• Children delight in being outdoors and use this area well. For example, children are provided with excellent opportunities to help develop their physical and exploratory skills.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. Partnerships with parents are highly effective. Parents are closely involved in the care that their children receive. A collaborative and cohesive approach is used very successfully to build fully on children's learning. Parents describe the nursery as 'amazing' and leaders and staff as 'exceptional'. They add that staff 'go above and beyond' to support their children with their learning.
• Children receive excellent teaching and are encouraged to develop their mathematical skills through highly engaging activities. For example, staff incorporate mathematical challenges into planned activities, such as cutting their mud gingerbread men and cakes into sections such as 'quarter' and 'half'. This sparks children's excitement and fosters their early mathematical problem-solving skills.