Little Owls Nursery Two Willows

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy, confident and eager to learn. They separate from their parents and carers with ease and quickly settle into play. Warm and trusting relationships are formed with staff, who know children well and respond sensitively to their needs. Children seek reassurance when required, and staff provide this with care and warmth. Children feel safe, secure and settled, which supports their overall well-being and development.

Children are enthusiastic learners who choose from a range of activities and resources. They benefit from daily outdoor play in spacious and well-resourced outdoor areas. Staff plan opportunities that encourage children to be active and to develop their physical skills. For instance, children ride bikes, dig in the mud, climb with confidence and enjoy running games with their friends. These experiences promote strength, coordination and independence, while also encouraging cooperation and turn taking.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive strong support. Staff attend relevant training and work closely with parents and professionals to ensure that children's needs are well met. A well-resourced sensory room provides calm spaces for targeted one-to-one and small-group sessions, enabling children with SEND to make the best possible progress.

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

• Leaders have worked with staff to develop and plan a broad and balanced curriculum for children. Staff know children well and use ongoing assessments to identify their next steps in learning. Overall, staff's interactions with children are good. However, during free-flow play, staff are spread across large areas indoors and outdoors. Consequently, although staff deployment is effective in keeping children safe, it reduces opportunities for consistent, high-quality interactions.
• The leadership team supports families to access available funding. It uses its knowledge of the children and their families to determine how to best use this. For example, recent funding has been used to implement forest school sessions to enhance children's outdoor learning experiences. This helps to ensure that any gaps in children's learning are closed.
• Children who are learning English as an additional language receive effective support. Staff use children's home languages alongside English to help them settle quickly. This enables children to express their needs and be understood from the outset. As a result, children make good progress in developing their English language skills and gain the confidence they need to communicate successfully.
• Partnerships with parents are a significant strength of the nursery. Parents are warmly welcomed to events such as weekly gardening sessions and stay-and-play activities. Communication is strong, with daily handovers, regular parents' evenings and online updates keeping parents well informed. Staff provide further support through a lending library and by sharing home-learning ideas. This effective partnership helps to extend children's learning beyond the nursery and strengthens outcomes.
• Staff promote children's healthy lifestyles effectively. Daily access to fresh air supports their well-being. Parents are engaged in promoting good oral health, with staff sharing information and providing resource packs for use at home. Children enjoy well-balanced snacks and meals and are encouraged to be independent in their self-care. For example, they wash their hands before eating and use cutlery to feed themselves, helping them to develop good hygiene habits and independence.
• Overall, leadership and management is effective, with strong support in place for staff's progression and well-being. Staff benefit from regular supervision sessions and access to ongoing training that develop their skills and knowledge. However, at times, activities for the youngest children are not fully aligned with their stage of development. This results in some learning experiences not being fully effective. For example, babies are occasionally encouraged to hold pencils and make marks before they have developed the fine motor control needed for this.
• Staff skilfully promote children's language and communication development. They give children time to think and respond, supporting them to engage in meaningful conversations. Carefully selected 'core books' are shared with enthusiasm, capturing children's interest and encouraging active participation. Staff further enhance children's understanding through the use of visual aids and sign language. Children are confident communicators.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of free-flow play so that staff consistently support children's learning through high-quality interactions
• support baby-room staff to improve knowledge of individual children's stage of development so that all play experiences are delivered effectively.