Little Rainbow Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm and welcoming environment for children. They set up invitations to play, ensuring these are based on clear learning intentions. For example, authentic balancing scales with a variety of seasonal objects is an invitation for children to play with weight and measures. Children demonstrate high levels of engagement and enjoyment as they play in their environment. Interactions between staff and children are consistently warm and supportive. Babies are quickly comforted by cuddles and reassurance from their familiar adults.

Leaders have developed a curriculum that ensures children know more and can do more as they move through the nursery. For example, children develop their independence over time. This starts with babies, who confidently use spoons to self-feed, and builds up to pre-school children, who carefully serve their own lunch and safely pour themselves water from glass jugs.

Staff share consistent expectations for children's behaviour, and routines are well embedded. This contributes to a calm and purposeful atmosphere. Staff deal with minor behaviour incidents calmly, getting down to the child's level and explaining why the nursery rules are important. This supports children to understand what is expected of them and to self-regulate their behaviour.

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

• Leaders have carefully considered the layout of rooms to meet the needs of children, and resources are of the highest quality. Many resources are authentic, real-life objects. This impacts on the children's play, as they engage more carefully with their environment, showing high levels of interest and curiosity.
• Staff prioritise the development of communication and language skills. They sing rhymes and share stories with children throughout the day. They constantly narrate during activities and ask open-ended questions to promote conversation. For example, during a sand activity, staff encourage children to talk about their recent holidays to the seaside. On occasion, staff do not correct children's speech errors, or they make their own errors. However, children become confident and articulate communicators over time.
• Staff observe and engage in child-led learning. For example, children use wooden blocks to build a race track. Staff follow their lead with enthusiasm while also incorporating mathematical language about size and shape into the activity. This enhances and extends learning by building on children's ideas and interests.
• Staff model and promote respectful relationships. They focus on acknowledging positive behaviours and offer frequent praise. This supports children to develop a positive sense of self and to engage with each other kindly. For example, a group of children sit together drawing pictures. They talk about their drawings, sharing ideas and discussing what they like about each other's work.
• Staff lead group sessions with energy and pace. This succeeds in engaging most children. However, some children are distracted by toys in the same space, and others choose not to join in at all. This can be disruptive for those trying to engage, and it means that some children miss out on valuable group learning.
• Leaders have developed links with the local school. They arrange visits to the school and invite teachers in to meet the children. This helps to prepare children for their transition to school. The setting also has excellent connections with the 'Discovery Storytelling Centre' next door and benefits from sharing the inspiring outside garden and from regular access to the centre itself.
• The manager is passionate about her role and is clear about the further improvements she intends to make. Recent staffing changes have been well managed to ensure continuity for the children. Staff feel that management is approachable and 'leads from the front', modelling best practice to staff. Leaders make good use of staff supervisions to identify and meet individual training needs. Staff comment that they feel well supported.
• Leaders and staff keep parents informed of their child's care and development. For example, babies have daily care diaries, and older children have termly reports sent home, followed by opportunities to discuss these with key persons. However, parents feel this could be strengthened with the introduction of more frequent feedback, particularly for the older children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure all staff model, and support children to develop, correct spoken English
• support all children to engage in group sessions to ensure they benefit from the learning intent
• consider how to further improve the feedback given to parents about their children's daily care and learning.