Little Gems of The Sea

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this caring nursery, where children and families are treated as one big family. Staff recognise that every child is special in their own right and the ethos of the nursery builds on this. Children are very happy in the nursery. They develop a good relationship with their key person and other staff. For example, three-year-old children thoroughly enjoy playing with shaving foam. They laugh and giggle as they clap hands together to cover their key person with foam. Parents say their children are very happy in the nursery. They feel that staff are very caring and approachable. Children are safe in the nursery. Staff supervise them well as they move around the nursery or go outside into the yard.

Staff have high expectations for children's learning. For example, they place a strong focus on developing children's literacy skills. Children develop a love of books. Older children enjoy picking books for staff to read. Staff read stories with good expression. Children listen with enthusiasm. Older children talk about the illustrations and join with key words and phrases. Children behave well. They respond quickly when staff remind them of their expectations. This is evident when they quickly get down off chairs when staff remind them.

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

• Staff have thought carefully about the organisation of the learning environment. This is set up to support the seven areas of learning. Staff have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn, which underpins the organisation. For example, staff working with babies put out books and pictures of farm animals, as well as a farm, to support children to learn animal noises.
• Staff working with babies have a good understanding of how they learn. They have a good understanding of children's interests and stage of development. For example, they use stacking beakers to help babies to develop their grasp and coordination. This helps babies to make good progress.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves healthy. For example, they consistently remind children to wash their hands after going to the toilet or blowing their noses. All children, including babies, wash their hands before eating. Staff provide healthy meals and snacks, such as fruit and milk. Children enjoy time outside as they use the school yard to run off energy.
• Staff support children's communication and language effectively. There is a strong emphasis on singing and books in the nursery. From an early age, children join in with the actions and refrains of well-known songs. Staff introduce songs as they play alongside children and children confidently join in. Toddlers sit on their key person's knee and use puppets to join in with songs. This helps to support their language development.
• Staff have a good attitude to working in partnership with parents and the local school. They talk about what children are doing and find out information about how they can support children further. For example, staff are currently building on children's learning in the adjacent nursery and helping older children to develop their early writing skills.
• The nursery staff have a good attitude to professional development. They attend a range of training to strengthen their practice further. For example, staff have recently evaluated their practice following training on aspects of behaviour, such as biting. This has had a positive impact and has reduced incidents in the nursery.
• Staff have a clear routine, which children know and follow. For example, children anticipate snack time or story time. However, there are some aspects of the routine, such as group times, which do not support children to concentrate. For example, older children are sometimes distracted by younger children singing at group time. This impacts on their concentration.
• Staff have a range of equipment to develop children's physical skills, such as slides and scooters. However, staff have not yet thought enough about the order in which children develop their skills in physical development. The curriculum is not sufficiently well sequenced to ensure that children continue to develop their skills in this area. For example, staff have not thought about how they can provide sufficient challenge for older children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that children are able to maintain high levels of concentration, particularly at group times
• review the curriculum for physical development to make sure that older children's skills continue to develop.