Little Rascals Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive confidently to a warm welcome at nursery and settle quickly. Staff show genuine enthusiasm as they listen to children's ideas and interests. They use this information to contribute towards planning a curriculum that supports children's learning and development. Staff recognise the importance of getting to know families well. Baby room staff work hard to build secure attachments with very young children. They demonstrate genuine warmth and affection towards the babies. This contributes towards staff being able to meet children's individual needs and support their sense of safety and security.

Staff expose children to a variety of rich experiences to learn about different people and life beyond the nursery. Children benefit from outings in the local community, including regular visits to a local care home to build intergenerational relationships. Staff extend opportunities to support children's learning about oral health by visiting a local dentist to find out how to care for their teeth.

Staff provide forest school sessions as part of the routine for children to engage in higher-risk physical play during visits to local woodland. Generally, children behave well, although there are some minor occasions when children struggle to listen and respond to instructions. Despite this, staff work closely with children to explain rules to help them understand these are in place to keep everyone safe. Children are curious about the natural world. They handle a beetle they have found and describe its features. Staff use this opportunity to extend children's vocabulary and introduce new words linked to the beetle they observe, like 'antennae'.

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

• Leaders and managers are passionate about ensuring that children who attend the nursery receive good-quality care and education. Consequently, they have a sharp focus on self-evaluation and accurately identify strengths and areas for development. Leaders support staff's well-being by celebrating what they do well. They recognise there is more support required to develop the skills for some staff in a newly formed team in the nursery, in particular, strengthening knowledge around the key-person approach. Initial steps to provide support have been taken but are yet to be fully embedded.
• Staff ensure that activities and experiences directly link to what they have identified children need to learn, based on what they already know and can do. Staff model language linked to play experiences. Young children sustain concentration as they develop their hand-to-eye coordination and physical skills while using containers to tip and pour bubbly water during water play. Occasionally, staff do not pause when introducing lots of new language to give children sufficient time to think while making connections in their learning. At times, this means children do not fully benefit from these interactions.
• Leaders and managers recognise the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's communication skills. They take steps to provide the staff team with training opportunities from external professionals. This contributes towards building on the staff team's professional knowledge to learn different strategies that promote children's language development in a variety of ways. Staff model sign language to children. This practice flourishes throughout the nursery and particularly benefits children who are non-verbal, who confidently use signing to express their wants and needs.
• Children develop positive relationships and seek out their friends to collaborate and engage in imaginative play opportunities. They self-chosen challenges to climb and balance as they navigate large pieces of equipment in the outdoor area. Children show high levels of resilience as they repeat and practise, developing their gross motor skills as they learn how to move their bodies in different ways.
• Leaders and managers work closely with the staff team to assess the progress children make so they can quickly identify any developmental delays. Staff communicate with the special educational needs coordinator. They work together, and with families, to ensure that interventions are in place to help children catch up. Where appropriate, they take steps to consider referral to external agencies for further support.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery, including the good levels of communication they receive to support partnership working and further ways to extend learning at home. Managers and staff conduct parent consultations to provide an overview of children's individual progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support children even further to listen and respond effectively to instructions given
• continue to strengthen the key-person approach to precisely meet the needs of all children
• build on staff's teaching practice so children are given time to think when learning new ideas and concepts.