Little Learners Nurseries Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this welcoming nursery with big smiles, eager to start their day. Staff get to know the children well and are kind and responsive to their individual needs. Therefore, children settle quickly and feel safe. They build trusting relationships with staff and seek them out to share their activities and achievements. Staff respond with enthusiasm, which helps to boost children's self-esteem. Children play together well and develop good friendships. They learn about the languages and cultures of their peers and celebrate a variety of special events together, such as a multicultural day. Children enjoy walks and visits within their local area with staff, to help them find out about their community. This helps them to be understanding and tolerant about different ways of life.

The manager and staff have high expectations for all children. They provide an ambitious curriculum with lots of exciting activities and resources. This motivates children to learn and play. Children confidently choose their activities and engage with enjoyment and purpose. For instance, children are captivated to discover that the dinosaurs have been frozen in a block of ice. They eagerly explore how to release them. Children follow good hygiene routines and learn to manage their personal care. They acquire a broad range of skills and knowledge in preparation for starting school.

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

• The highly qualified and experienced manager is passionate about her role and works hard to support the children and families that use the nursery. She continuously evaluates the provision to identify areas for further development. For example, the manager understands that good communication skills play a key part in children's learning. Therefore, she has focused on enhancing this area of the curriculum, such as through staff training and liaising with other professionals.
• Staff implement a good range of strategies to promote children's speech and language. For example, they introduce children to a broad range of words during play, to enhance their vocabularies. However, they do not always focus sharply enough on the children who need most support, to ensure that they benefit as much as possible from the learning experiences.
• Children who receive additional funding and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported in the nursery. The manager and staff communicate effectively with parents and outside agencies to help them understand and cater for children's individual needs. They are attentive and support children's independent play and exploration. Therefore, children make good progress from their starting points.
• Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. For instance, they are keen to take on the challenge of making play dough. Children confidently add and combine ingredients. They are not fazed when their mixture is too wet and laugh, 'I have made slime instead!'. Children reason that they can fix the problem by adding more flour. They are motivated to keep trying, and show a sense of pride when their play dough is the right consistency.
• Staff are role models and encourage good manners and kindness. In general, they support children's behaviour well. For instance, staff remind children to share and show them how to take turns. However, they do not always give children clear expectations about why rules and boundaries are necessary. This would help children to understand the possible consequences of their actions and support them to self-moderate their behaviour.
• Children learn that there are lots of enjoyable ways to keep fit and healthy. They show pleasure in being active and initiate games which involve vigorous exercise, such as jumping. Children develop increasing strength and control of their bodies as they practise yoga stances with staff. This helps them to become confident, as they build further on their physical skills.
• Parents comment that they feel confident to leave their children at the nursery, as they know that they are safe and well cared for. They appreciate the regular feedback on their children's learning and value staff's advice on issues such as potty training. Parents say that their children are much more confident and sociable since joining the nursery and are making good progress in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen further the support for children who need more help to develop their language and communication skills
• help staff to further support children's understanding of the need for rules and boundaries, to aid children in learning to moderate their behaviour.