Little Saints Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly and establish positive relationships with adults at this warm, welcoming and caring setting. Children are happy and confident and say they like coming to nursery to play with their friends. Routines throughout nursery help children to feel safe and secure and know what to expect next. Children proudly show how they safely use the balance bicycles when playing outdoors and take turns with their friends.

Children behave well and display high levels of independence. For example, they collect their own coats from the cloakroom, put them on before going outside and hang them back up when they return inside. They are encouraged to use the toilet independently and follow good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before snack. Children confidently pour their own milk from a jug and drink from open-top cups at snack time.

Children show positive attitudes towards their learning through high levels of concentration and enjoyment in their play. There is an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum in place that supports children with their learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). All children are progressing well.

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

• Children's communication and language development is promoted well. Children enjoy listening to stories as a group. Many activities are adapted to reflect the setting's 'Book of the Month'. Children are also provided with lots of opportunities to choose and look at books independently, with friends or with an adult. This promotes a love of reading. Children enjoy singing familiar nursery rhymes as well as learning new songs.
• Children benefit from activities that reflect their current interests. Staff have a good understanding of what children are capable of and what they need to learn next. For example, staff monitor the type of grip children use to a hold a pencil. Once children can securely make marks, they are encouraged to use the next stage of grip to prepare them for writing.
• Children are provided with lots of opportunities to prepare them for life in modern Britain. They learn about lots of festivals from different religions and cultures. Staff, children and parents are invited to share their own experiences and traditions, such as dress and foods.
• Older children are provided with additional support each day aimed at developing their literacy skills in readiness for school. Through this, children are helped to develop an accurate understanding of sounds that letters represent. Children also start to learn how to form letters. They do so with accuracy as they write them on a board. However, sometimes, as children follow staff drawing out letters in the air with a finger, children do not learn to form letters correctly. This leads to confusion.
• Staff extend children's vocabulary while following their interests, such as discussing 'suspension bridges' and 'reversing' while playing with trains. However, opportunities to introduce children to mathematical language, such as longer, shorter, bigger, smaller, heavier and lighter, are overlooked. This hampers children's understanding of mathematical language and concepts.
• Children are taught the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They are provided with healthy snacks, a healthy packed lunch policy is in place and children enjoy physical activity, both in the nursery garden and at forest school.
• Leaders have a clear vision for the nursery. They support staff in their roles, undertake regular supervisions and take staff well-being into account. Appropriate polices and procedures are in place. However, not all staff have a good understanding of these. This undermines their effectiveness.
• Partnerships with parents are good. The nursery ensures they are kept well informed about their children's development, such as through termly reports and regular discussions with their child's key person. Parents speak highly of the nursery and the staff team. They feel well supported and report that the settling-in process is very helpful and well tailored to their children's individual needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that children who learn how to form letters are provided with consistent, clear and accurate guidance on how to do this
• provide children with more opportunities to develop their understanding of mathematical language and concepts
• ensure all staff have a good understanding of policies and procedures that are in place.