Little Lambs Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate extremely high levels of interest and joy when they arrive at the safe, nurturing and well-resourced environment. They quickly become engrossed in a catalogue of stimulating and carefully planned experiences. Children make rapid progress in their all-round development. They demonstrate determination and problem-solving skills. Children hand pump water and work out the fastest route to the 'riverbed'. Children build dams to re-direct water using rocks of varying shapes and size. Additionally, they gain historical knowledge as they curiously handle items from the past, such as an old radio and telephone. Children ask intellectual questions that help them gain precise information and build their knowledge further. They are in awe during their play.

Children have secure bonds with all staff, and close friendships with peers. They share special events, such as birthdays, and listen to each other intently during group storytelling activities. Children are very confident and emotionally secure. They regularly take part in mindfulness and well-being sessions. This helps children regulate their feelings extremely well. As a result, the learning environment is calm and approachable for all children. They flourish and gain an abundance of knowledge and skills to take into their future education, such as starting school.

Staff kept in regular contact with families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This significantly helped support children's and parent's well-being. Additionally, this enabled learning to continue at home through staff's creative ideas. For example, videos and messages were sent to parents, linking to children's interests and next steps in their development. Children continued to make progress and they settled with ease back into the setting when restrictions lifted.

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

• Leaders and staff plan and deliver a meticulous curriculum that is highly focused on each child's assessed developmental needs. Children rapidly gain new skills and show especially positive attitudes towards learning. They make exceptional progress and build on learning. For example, children build castles for soldiers and make intricate items for royal tea parties. Children link their learning to recent experiences of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
• Staff's spoken language is clear and concise. Their enthusiastic modelling of words and grammar helps children to listen and, in turn, speak with immense clarity and depth. Babies begin their communication journey through visual aids, songs and sounds in their environment. They smile and laugh as they sing and sign to each other.
• Children show impressive literacy skills within their play. They manipulate materials to create intricate models. This demonstrates they have the vital muscle strength in their hands for early writing. Additionally, they confidently talk about their creations and the characters they have made. Children love stories and handling books from a young age. They can retell events through role play with great enthusiasm.
• Children are encouraged to converse and share their thoughts, knowing they will be valued. Staff nurture children's ability to respect other people. For example, they use stories that represent uniqueness and provide experiences to learn about many cultures. Children form new friendships with ease and are accepting of others.
• Leaders and staff are knowledgeable and highly skilled within their job roles. They use their superb teaching strategies to provide children with the most stimulating and challenging activities. Staff adapt their input in order to provoke deep thinking from children. This helps children solve problems independently and retain information from each experience.
• Leaders evaluate the setting with precision. There are clear improvement targets in place, which are tailored to raising outcomes for all children. In addition, the provider is building even closer relationships with nearby settings, in order to share training, knowledge and attainment expectations for children within the community. This helps practitioners form more accurate and consistent assessments of children, ensuring gaps are not missed.
• Staff well-being is paramount to the provider. She works rigorously to ensure they are happy in their workplace and to help their passion for education to increase even further. Staff access a wide range of training that suits their learning styles. As a result, they gain even further knowledge and skills that consistently improve outcomes for children. Furthermore, staff express their happiness within their job role and increased passion to help children achieve their full potential.
• Parents are heavily involved in their children's development journey. They are regularly invited to interactive sessions and are offered resource packs to help them continue learning at home. Parents' views are consistently sought and used to help develop the setting further. They are overwhelmed with the support and care their children receive and love the wealth of experiences on offer.
• Staff swiftly help children with developmental delays to catch up. For example, they found that since the COVID-19 pandemic, younger children's physical development has been affected. Consequently, staff provide a large range of opportunities for children to enhance mobility and body movements. All children are extremely active during the day and experience a broad range of exercise, such as swimming.