Little Grange Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this truly inclusive and nurturing nursery. Upon arrival, children are greeted with warmth and enthusiasm, ready to embark on a day filled with new, fascinating experiences and engaging activities. Staff pay close attention to each child's unique needs, abilities and learning styles, building on their existing knowledge highly effectively. As a result of this individualised approach, children are deeply engrossed in their learning. They are highly motivated to explore their environment, ask many questions and feel empowered to take the lead in their learning journey. In the younger age groups, staff provide a high level of support, warmth and attentiveness and are exceptionally trained at communicating with younger children. Staff use simple words to communicate with younger children to ensure each child feels understood and valued.

All children benefit from truly immersive, multi-sensory experiences in age-appropriate gardens and outdoor play areas. Highly dedicated staff relentlessly design and enhance children's learning by integrating the surrounding woodlands, forest school activities, visits to the chickens and an organic vegetable garden. These enriching experiences are carefully designed to help build children's character, foster curiosity, ignite intrinsic motivation and enhance children's knowledge in all areas of learning. For example, children are captivated as they spot differences between woodland slugs and snails, learning about the difference between their coiled and straight bodies, and intently look for signs of leaves decomposing. Additionally, children excitedly match a palette of colours to decaying leaves and compose their own music using pots and pans in the forest.

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

• Leaders implement and securely embed a highly motivating and structured curriculum. All staff are highly skilled in devising and delivering the curriculum intention in a coherent and well-organised way. They collaborate with local inclusion services and various professionals to address any gaps in children's learning promptly. Children demonstrate high levels of concentration and use their newly acquired knowledge in their play. For example, they create weather drawings using their large-muscle movements. They jointly discuss beams of sunshine, the circular shape of the sun, 'bumpy' clouds and 'sparkles' in the sky.
• Staff demonstrate that they have high expectations of children's behaviours, gently correcting unwanted behaviour and reinforcing positive behaviour with their meaningful acknowledgement. As a result, children's behaviour and respect for others are highly commendable. For example, younger children eagerly share and explore resources during highly stimulating foam sensory play in the garden. The attentive staff promptly acknowledge all children's efforts, providing instant reinforcement for this positive behaviour.
• Highly trained staff create an environment that promotes literacy for children of all ages. Children actively participate in listening to exciting stories, singing songs and expanding their vocabulary. They are curious and captivated when staff vary their tone and expression while reading. Staff also offer excellent language support for children with delayed speech and language development through impressive targeted interventions and collaboration with speech and language specialists.
• Leaders and staff go above and beyond to provide children with a wide range of enriching experiences that help them learn about the world. These experiences include regular baking sessions, weekly visits to the library, and celebrations of various cultural and diverse festivals. Through these opportunities, children learn essential skills, such as precise measurement and estimation. They also have opportunities to discuss their cooking habits at home and reflect on their roles in their broader community.
• The key-person system is exceptional. Leaders and staff are highly dedicated to ensuring the overall well-being of children. Staff provides consistent and clear guidance to support healthy choices related to food, rest, mindfulness and exercise. Additionally, the nursery offers stay-and-play sessions for parents and provides appropriate support tailored to each child's age and developmental stage. This helps ensure that children receive the necessary support to reach their full potential.
• Leaders demonstrate an unwavering commitment and have a clear vision and strategy for consistently enhancing the provision of high-quality education to all children. They ensure staff receive focused and highly effective professional development plans and targeted training. Leaders regularly monitor staff engagement with children to ensure it is meaningful and highly effective.
• Leaders are committed to forming strong partnerships with parents. Continuous communication ensures that parents are well informed about their children's progress and receive guidance on supporting their children's learning at home. Parental feedback is highly valued, and parents are encouraged to share suggestions for further improvements. Individualised plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) undergo regular reviews and discussions with parents, ensuring consistent and highly effective learning experiences for all children.