Little Holland Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery excitedly, keen and eager to begin their day of fun and learning. They part from their parents and carers with ease, waving them a cheerful goodbye as they are shown into the nursery building. Children have good relationships with their key person and with the other staff. They chat confidently to them about things from home. Children thoroughly enjoy learning in the exciting and stimulating nursery garden. They enthusiastically pump water through tubes and pipes attached to the new water wall. Children use the interesting selection of laminated pictures to help them in their hunt for insects or to identify flowers and birds. They take great pleasure in sharing their finds. For example, when they spot an insect crawling up the fence, they show the adults and other children what they have found.

Children behave well and are kind and caring towards each other. They form small friendship groups and negotiate roles. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points. Key persons have high expectations of the children's abilities, based on their thorough knowledge of each child's interests.

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

• Since the last inspection, the manager, provider and staff have implemented effective ways of measuring their strengths and identifying areas that could be further improved. The manager has clear plans in place for continuous improvements based on her evaluation of practice within the nursery.
• Parents speak very highly of the manager and staff. They say that their children love attending the nursery. Many parents comment on the excellent communication between themselves and the staff, manager and provider. They say how much they like the online system, which enables them to be kept fully informed of their child's day as it happens. For example, staff update the system throughout the day with an account of the children's meals, sleep times and any accidents.
• Children learn safety skills as they chat to staff about people who help to keep them safe. They role play being fire fighters and proficiently squirt water from bottles to put out a painted fire. Children and adults engage in lively discussions and share their knowledge and experiences of the role of a fire fighter.
• Children listen attentively to stories and enthusiastically join in with their favourite parts. They share their views and ideas about the character's feelings and reasons for behaving in a certain way.
• The manager and staff kept in regular contact with parents and children who were not able to attend the nursery during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic lockdown. They provided activities for families to do at home to help to reduce any gaps in children's learning. Effective measures have been put in place to identify where children need the most support on their return to nursery.
• Staff engage in purposeful discussions with children throughout the day. They extend their language skills, for example, through the introduction of new words. On occasions, however, staff do not make the best use of questioning skills to encourage children to think critically and enhance their knowledge further.
• The manager has improved her arrangements for staff supervision, coaching and monitoring since the last inspection. She regularly observes staff's practice and gives them constructive feedback on ways to further improve the quality of their interactions with children. On the whole, this is successful. However, there are times when staff miss opportunities to identify when to intervene and focus children on more constructive activities.
• Younger children develop a secure sense of belonging. Staff help them to feel settled. For example, they encourage parents to bring in photographs of the child's family members and pets and put these together in a 'special book'. When a child becomes distressed or tired, staff encourage them to look at their books and chat to them about the various people who are special to them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of using questioning techniques to encourage children to extend their communication and language skills
• develop staff's interactions with children to help them to identify when to intervene and focus children on more constructive activities.