Little Legs Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident, and staff continually develop this throughout the day. For example, at group times, staff sing to children and children sing back 'yes I am' when asked if they are present. Staff support children to build a sense of pride. Children show staff what they achieve in play. Children say, 'look at my sandcastle' as they jump up and down. Staff acknowledge children's achievements and encourage children to praise each other. In the garden, children sit together and clap and cheer with staff when their friends get awards.

Staff clearly have positive relationships with children. For example, younger children take items to staff to show them. Children are comforted by their key person when needed. Staff genuinely enjoy the interactions that they have with children and are enthusiastic. This helps children to have positive attitudes to learning, and they engage for prolonged periods of time.

Children are patient and respectful of one another. Staff support children to wait for their turn and explain why sharing is important. They model manners and help children when required. Consequently, children work together and help their friends regularly. For example, older children help each other to fasten up dressing up clothes, and younger children get tissues and wipe their friends' noses.

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

• Children's communication is very well promoted. Staff sing to children frequently. They use song, rhyme and alliteration to introduce children to the rhythm of speech and sentence structures. The youngest children attempt to sing by babbling and making sounds to join in. Staff talk to children frequently and ensure that they provide a language-rich environment. They use signs, eye contact, gestures and comments to model communication to children. Staff use new vocabulary in play, which children try to copy.
• Staff promote a love of books and read to children. Older children select their own books and tell visitors their own story using the pictures and vocabulary that they have heard staff use before. Children talk about their favourite toys at the nursery. They tell visitors that they like playing with the dinosaurs. They like to be outside and enjoy singing together.
• Children learn how to be healthy and safe, including how to remain safe online. They show their understanding by telling visitors what they need to do if something pops up on their device screens. All children are supported with brushing their teeth after lunch, and they are spoken to about how to keep their teeth healthy. Staff incorporate outdoor safety into the children's day, offering children hats to be safe in the sun, and encouraging children to have a drink of water to help them to cool down.
• Children develop skills towards independence. Staff show younger children how to use a spoon and they start to feed themselves when given their own spoon. Older children are encouraged to pour their own drinks and serve themselves food using large utensils. Children get themselves ready to go outside. They put their own shoes and coats on. Staff offer children useful tips to get coats on, and support children if necessary.
• Staff feel well supported by their colleagues and managers. They talk about the positive relationships that they have with one another, and that they able to share personal and work-related issues if necessary. Staff add that managers support their practice through observations and supervision meetings. Managers give appropriate and effective feedback to staff and this has a positive impact on children's learning.
• Parents comment on the setting and how supportive staff are. They speak about the open communication that they receive. Parents get regular updates through an online app that tells them what their children have been doing that day, as well as their children's next steps and how they can support their children at home.
• Staff and managers know what they want children to learn and understand child development. They have clear next steps for all children. However, on occasions, quieter children do not fully benefit from intended staff interactions. For example, they wander around after snack, without support to find something to play with.
• Overall, children behave well. Staff remind children of how to behave and older children can recite the rules when asked at group time. However, behavioural expectations are not always consistently clear to children. For example, when children sit for lunch, staff ask children to sit quietly as their friends are asleep, but then encourage them to sing loudly together.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to identify quieter children, to enable them to fully take part in play experiences and activities
• support staff to be consistent with their behavioural expectations, to ensure that children understand how they are expected to behave.