Little Rainbows Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in the busy nursery. They show that they feel safe as they approach staff for cuddles. Children behave well, overall. Where they encounter difficulties, staff step in to help children to understand their feelings and diffuse frustrations. Staff have appropriately high expectations of children. Children are happy to be involved in the good variety of activities available.

Children's physical development is well supported. Babies enjoy practising their newly acquired walking skills. All children benefit from daily use of the outdoor area, where they play games with their friends. Babies' early communication skills are well supported by the attentive staff. They delight in engaging in games where they bring crayons to staff and practise their new phrase, 'Thank you'. Children enjoy stories such as 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and recall related vocabulary, such as 'cocoon'. They joyfully join in with the words and actions of familiar songs.

The needs of children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND) are particularly well supported. Staff who work with children with SEND are highly competent. Children enjoy the sensory room, where they can have some calm time away from other busier spaces. They catch bubbles and watch different coloured lights. This helps to stimulate children's senses and supports their overall well-being. Children with SEND make good progress from their different starting points.

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

• The manager truly cares about the children who attend the nursery. She consistently puts in a huge amount of effort to ensure that their needs are met. The manager ensures that additional funding is spent to benefit specific children. For example, she arranges transport to and from nursery for some families to make sure that children attend regularly.
• Support for children who speak English as an additional language is effective. Staff and children learn key words from their friend's home languages. This enables children to play and learn in both English and their own home language. Children learn about other cultures. For example, staff add traditional school desks to the room to demonstrate some differences between British and Ghanaian education. This helps children to begin to learn about the diverse world around them.
• Staff well-being is strongly supported. Staff supervisions allow leaders to target training to develop staff's competencies and to have an impact on children. For example, staff have completed training on 'professional love' to support the development of strong attachments between staff and children. Children demonstrate their attachments to staff as they separate from their parents and carers with ease.
• Staff understand what children need to learn next, based on what they already know and can do. Systems for monitoring children's progress are embedded and effective. Staff quickly identify gaps in children's learning and development and take action to narrow these gaps. Planning for children with SEND is thorough and individually tailored. However, planning for other children's learning does not take enough account of their individual interests. That said, children do make good progress overall.
• The manager has built effective relationships with parents and carers. She adapts how she shares information to suit the families that she works with. Staff encourage parents and carers to borrow books to further support their children at home. Parents comment favourably on the care and education that their children receive.
• The manager works with local schools to ensure that children have a smooth transition on to the next stage of their education. Children visit their new school and meet their new teacher. Children learn skills which help to support their developing independence. For example, they put on their own coat and shoes. This helps children to develop confidence ready for moving on to school.
• Staff teach children about the importance of a healthy diet. However, the messages that children receive about health and hygiene are inconsistent. For example, they are given water and milk at mealtimes but offered juice throughout the day. This hinders children's understanding of good oral health. Furthermore, lunchtime at nursery is very busy and loud. This upsets some children. This also means that not all children learn the social skills that come from sitting at the table for a calm mealtime, where they can discuss their day.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consider the individual interests of children more when planning activities, so that children become even more engaged in their learning
• support staff to improve consistency in promoting children's good health and hygiene through routines of the day.