Little Learners Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are thriving, happy and eager to learn at this busy nursery. They engage in carefully planned activities and self-direct their own purposeful play. Staff tailor learning to children's emerging ideas. This means that children try hard and concentrate well. For example, children decide to make 'bug cakes', using soil and cake tins. Following a debate about further ingredients required for the cakes, a staff member introduces flour and salt. This sparks a discussion about the texture and differences between salt and flour. Children describe 'granules' being 'bumpy' and 'powdery'. They confidently talk to each other about their cakes and how many minutes they will take to cook.

Children are respectful to each other and play well together. They seek support from staff when they need help to resolve differences. Children listen well and respond to instructions. For example, staff raise their hand to gain children's attention. Children see this and stop what they are doing and help to tidy up.

Children's communication and language skills are good. Children are continually exposed to new vocabulary. Babies take their favourite books to staff and point to the pictures. Toddlers energetically join in action songs. Children develop a love of books from a very young age. Babies form secure and warm attachments with their key person. The nursery is meticulous in following babies' home routines. They ensure that the transition between home and nursery is smooth and children feel safe and relaxed.

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

• Staff consider the most important steps children need to take to become confident communicators. They ensure that children regularly hear new language to help them to express themselves. For example, as babies babble, staff communicate with body language and sounds. Toddlers learn single words and are supported to put two and three words together. Pre-school children are constantly introduced to new vocabulary. They listen to adults read and take part in discussions about the stories and the illustrations.
• Children have many opportunities to strengthen the muscles in their upper bodies and hands to help them to make marks, draw and begin to write letter shapes. Babies use their fingers to dab paint and learn how to move their hands as they wash them. Toddlers grasp paint rollers and squeeze pipettes and tweezers. Pre-school children use chalks, pens and pencils to draw and make marks outside and talk proudly about their pictures.
• The management team and special educational needs coordinator work collaboratively to identify and support children who may need additional help. They work closely with other professionals to ensure that children who need additional external support receive this promptly. Parents commend the nursery for the guidance and dedicated support provided.
• Staff accurately assess what children know and can do when they first start. They have initial conversations with parents about children's home and prior experiences. They make ongoing assessments through observing children, which informs the curriculum and what they want children to learn next. All staff know the targets for all children and talk at length about how they are helping their key children to always learn something new.
• Staff encourage and talk about kindness with children. They role model how to be polite and recognise when children are considerate to one another. Staff record children's acts of friendliness on a 'kindness tree'. Children are developing empathy and understanding of feelings well.
• Leaders undertake regular one-to-one meetings with staff. They evaluate their teaching practice and discuss personal well-being matters. All staff know how they can further improve their practice and feel supported in their work. They access training that improves their teaching and knowledge.
• A Spanish teacher works daily with the children. She introduces new words for the children in Spanish and re-reads favourite stories to children in Spanish. This supports children to learn about a different language to their own. However, children are not routinely learning about people, beliefs and communities different to their own. This means that children are not always learning about what makes them unique or developing an understanding of the wider world.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They appreciate regular communication via the nursery app. This includes details of activities their children have been doing. However, not all parents are aware of what their child's key person is currently working on to support their development. This means that not all parents can contribute to children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review information shared with parents so that they can further support children's learning at home
• enhance curriculum planning so that children learn about people, beliefs and communities different to their own.