Little Foxes (Wigan) Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel safe and welcome at the nursery. They settle well because staff give much care and attention to their individual needs. Children become calm, happy and able to manage their emotions because of staff's skilful, gentle help. They develop a sense of pride and belonging to their special group with their key person. Children feel a sense of achievement, such as when staff notice that they have put the toys away carefully or been kind to someone else. Children become responsible, thoughtful and keen learners.

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make a positive start to their learning. This begins well in the baby room and continues throughout their time at the nursery. Children learn well because of the high aspirations that the provider has for their early education. Children keenly explore the nursery's many interesting toys and resources. They benefit from the well-thought-out activities that staff provide to develop their knowledge of important concepts and ideas.

Children gain essential knowledge on which their later learning can build. For example, staff teach them to be physically strong and active. Children learn how to make and keep friends. They develop the communication skills that they need to share their ideas with other people.

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

• The provider has taken prompt and effective action to address the previous weaknesses. For example, it has tightened risk assessments, reviewed and updated the nursery's safeguarding policy and complaints procedures. The provider ensures that highly qualified staff are deployed to meet the needs of babies. These updates have been shared with staff to inform and improve their practice to ensure the safety and well-being of children.
• The provider has established an ambitious curriculum for children, including those with SEND. It uses additional funding well to help children to make progress through its curriculum. For example, it has purchased outdoor equipment that staff use to support the physical development of children with SEND. Children become physically mobile and develop the core strength and agility that they need.
• Staff support children's understanding of mathematics well. For instance, they skilfully teach younger children number names during their play. Older children learn about counting numbers in order and what numbers look like when they are written down. Children become confident early mathematicians.
• Most of the time, staff support children effectively to act sensibly as part of a larger group. This includes moving from indoors to outdoors, room to room and taking part in mealtimes and snack times. Occasionally, some of these routines for preschool children become disorganised. As a result, sometimes children lose focus and disengage in their learning.
• Staff read different stories and non-fiction books to children. Children enjoy thumbing through books alone or with others. However, the provider has not thought carefully enough about its curriculum for early literacy. As a result, staff mostly choose books to read with children at random. This does not help to deepen children's knowledge of books.
• The provider ensures that staff support children with SEND well. Staff use assessment strategies effectively to identify the gaps in children's learning. They use this information carefully to plan for children's next steps. The provider makes sure that staff work well with external experts to provide children with additional help. Children with SEND build their knowledge successfully.
• Staff support babies' emotional development well. They sing familiar nursery songs often and gently sway babies in their arms to the rhythm of the rhymes. Babies smile as they snuggle in with their key persons as they enjoy this special bonding time. As a result, babies build secure relationships with their key person and other staff members.
• Partnership with parents and carers is a strength of the nursery. The provider places high value on listening to the views of parents and supporting their needs. It provides stay-and-play sessions for parents alongside the well-considered settling-in sessions for children. This sets the scene for children to thrive when they start at the nursery.
• Staff benefit from the many training opportunities and thorough induction that they receive. For example, the provider recently arranged for staff to complete important training about the role of the key person. Staff receive regular coaching and mentoring to improve their work with children. As a result, children make good progress in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the curriculum to identify the literacy knowledge that staff should teach to children
• improve the organisation of the routines in the preschool room so that children are consistently engaged and benefit from the intended learning.