Little Owls Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children form strong bonds with the kind and nurturing staff. They enter happily and have lots of opportunities to learn new skills. Older children use various tools to manipulate the dough. This helps them to develop their physical and creative skills. Children grow in confidence as they happily explore the well-resourced learning environment. Children demonstrate a love of books. For example, babies enjoy turning the 'touchy-feely' books. Toddlers listen attentively to their favourite stories, and older children re-enact and recall the story about a bear hunt. This supports children's early literacy and oracy skills in preparation for school.

Staff have high expectations and instil accurate targets for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They acknowledge that some children did not gain the communication and language skills they needed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff model language well to help children to develop these skills. They also introduce new words, such as 'squidgy' and 'squash', as children play. Children display good behaviour as they wait patiently for their turn on the swing. Staff also use a range of auditory and physical cues to help children understand instructions. For example, they shake the tambourine at tidy-up time. This works very well for children who struggle with changes in their routine.

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

• The manager is a reflective and enthusiastic professional. She confidently leads a team of equally dedicated staff to help make positive changes to the environment and teaching. Staff understand the manager's vision for continuous improvements and actively incorporate her ideas into their practice.
• Staff use a range of strategies to engage children. For example, they use 'first and then' picture cards to help babies and toddlers understand when it is time to change their nappy. These visual prompts also help children with SEND understand what is happening now and next.
• Residents from the local care home regularly visit the nursery and join in with children's activities. This boosts children's social and interaction skills and helps them to build special relationships with their new friends.
• Staff comment on their joy of coming to work each day. They say that the manager is willing to go above and beyond to support their well-being. The manager ensures that staff have an acceptable workload, which means they can spend quality time with the children. This helps to boost staff morale, which also creates a happy environment for children.
• Staff celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of all children. For example, children's families, homes and friends are highlighted in photos, which are displayed around the nursery. This helps children to recognise similarities and differences between themselves and others.
• Staff work hard to support children's communication and language skills. However, some staff are not as skilled as others. For example, some staff encourage children to talk while they have a dummy in their mouth. This does not fully support children's speech development.
• Children develop their independence in a variety of ways. At mealtimes, toddlers learn to use different cutlery and eat independently. Pre-school children serve their own food. They also enjoy the role of being a lunchtime 'inspector'. This gives children a sense of responsibility as they help their friends at lunchtime.
• The manager uses early years pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged children. For example, funding has been used to purchase resources to help children develop their listening and attention skills.
• Parents formed a forum and meet with staff to discuss any improvements. This helps to build strong parent partnerships. Parents appreciate the extra activities their children receive, such as rugby and swimming lessons. These opportunities provide children with wider learning experiences.
• Children borrow books from the lending library, which helps to support their early literacy skills. They also take home-learning packs home. As a result, children are able to practise new skills, such as developing their finger muscles.
• The manager has introduced a curriculum which meets the needs of children. However, some staff are not as confident in teaching the curriculum. This does not consistently support children's individual learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen support for children to build on the range of words they know to help develop correct letter sounds
• support new staff to develop their curriculum knowledge.