Little Explorers: Goose Green

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and secure in this welcoming and friendly nursery. Staff recognise each child as an individual and build good relationships with them. Staff work with parents to obtain extensive information on children's care needs and routines, so babies feel extremely secure. Babies seek staff out for comfort and snuggle into their arms for cuddles. Staff ask babies for consent throughout every aspect of their care and ensure that children feel part of decision-making at all ages. Staff engage with young children in a comforting manner. For example, they talk and sing to children during nappy changes. As a result, children are happy and demonstrate that they feel safe in their care.

Children enjoy the interesting and varied activities that are provided for them indoors and in the well-resourced garden. Staff support children's natural instincts to move and explore. For example, children play collaboratively to construct and navigate walkways from crates and tyres, and staff talk with the children about taking turns. This enables them to explore new ways of moving and being physical.

Inclusion is very much at the heart of everything the staff do. Staff are highly focused on identifying and planning for children's individual needs, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff model good behaviours and teach children the importance of being kind and using their manners. Children take immense pride in being assigned special jobs, such as 'line leader' or 'walking feet monitor'.

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

• The manager and staff design and implement a well-sequenced curriculum to support the unique ways that children learn. Staff use their thorough knowledge of children's interests and stages of development to plan and provide exciting activities that challenge children's learning. Staff carry out ongoing observations of children to identify what they know and can do. This supports children to make good progress from their starting points.
• Children develop strong language and literacy skills. Staff link stories to different activities to expand on children's learning. For example, children develop their fine motor skills while making play dough characters from the story 'Wiggly the Worm'. Toddlers demonstrate a love of stories as they enthusiastically look at lift-the-flap books with staff in the reading shed.
• Parents and carers are passionate about the help, advice and support they receive at this welcoming and friendly nursery. Parents explain how the nursery helped to settle children through flexible arrangements with taster sessions. Parents also stated that they were extremely pleased with the progress their children make, which they say is down to a child-centred approach and highly skilled staff. Parents have access to regular communication, which includes daily logs, parents' evenings, newsletters, and an online app.
• Leaders and staff work well together in supporting children to get a good start to their early education. Staff work on ideas together in regular meetings to continuously improve outcomes for children. The nursery manager undertakes extensive self-evaluation, alongside the nominated individual, to set focused targets and ensure that there is continued professional development. Therefore, staff are well trained to deliver the curriculum and support children to gain the key skills and knowledge they need.
• Babies and toddlers are well supervised while they enjoy nutritious meals and snacks. Staff support children to develop excellent physical skills. For example, they encourage babies to self-feed when appropriate. This prepares children well for the next steps in their learning.
• Staff sing songs to introduce different transitions from one activity to the other, such as when lining up or preparing to have lunch. Children happily copy the actions to familiar songs as they organise the line. Children generally follow routines well. However, staff do not always consider the length of time that younger children partake in group activities, and this results in some children losing focus. Therefore, children are not always engaged in their learning.
• Staff know what they want children to learn. They have a clear focus on communication and language and how they can help children to develop their skills further. They have acted on advice from training and the local authority. Staff use a range of strategies, such as small-group interventions with real objects, to support children's language further. As a result, all children make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan and deliver group activities more effectively, to help children remain focused and engaged in all learning.