Little Scallywags Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff at this setting are enthusiastic and interact warmly with children. They happily greet each child as they arrive and speak with each parent or carer. Staff work hard to ensure that children have a key person with whom they build a close and supportive relationship. They get to know the children well. Children have secure bonds with staff, which can be seen as they talk confidently to them and seek comfort from their key worker. Staff are good role models for children and consistently praise them for positive behaviour and effort. They give gentle reminders of behaviour expectations and support children to resolve conflicts, when needed.

A priority of the curriculum is to encourage children to develop a love of reading. Staff read carefully chosen books during engaging and interactive story times. For example, babies squeal in delight when being read a story about a zoo. Staff show them soft toy animals from the story bag and encourage babies to copy the animal sound and action. This supports them to engage in and understand the story and different animals. Developing children's language and communication is a focus for staff within the setting. Staff constantly interact with children. They ask them questions, narrate their experiences and sing songs and nursery rhymes together throughout the day. This supports children to become effective communicators.

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

• Staff plan engaging activities, which children are eager to participate in and that link to their developmental needs. For example, babies use paint and toy animals to print and toddlers retell a familiar story using props. However, staff do not always use opportunities to ensure children benefit from challenge to extend their learning. For example, some indoor and outdoor activities are repeated instead of adapted to provide further challenge. This may prevent children from making the very best progress possible.
• Staff support children's social and emotional development well. For example, they help children to play board games and complete jigsaws together. This helps children to develop social skills, such as sharing and taking turns, and it helps them to understand their own and other's feelings.
• Children enjoy being physically active in their play. For example, they practise their fine motor skills using scissors, tweezers and play dough. Staff also provide indoor and outdoor climbing frames for children to climb and balance on. This supports children to develop both small and gross motor skills.
• Staff encourage children to solve mathematical problems and identify shapes during play. For example, staff challenge children to find out how many trains there are of each colour, and they add two semi-circles together for children to identify the shape. This promotes children's awareness of number and shape.
• Staff support children to develop their independence and self-care skills. For example, babies feed themselves and older children tidy away their plates after lunch. However, staff do not consistently promote children's independence or maximise opportunities for children to practise these skills. For example, some children are not expected to organise and take care of their belongings and children do not have the opportunity to pour their own drinks or serve their own food at mealtimes. This limits children's opportunity to become increasingly independent over time.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is strong and consistent. Staff swiftly identify children with additional needs and devise and implement support plans. They are knowledgeable and work closely with parents and outside agencies to provide for each child's needs.
• Leaders and managers have a good understanding of what quality teaching and learning looks like and they provide appropriate support to raise the standards in practice. Staff engage in regular and varied professional development opportunities, such as training and coaching, to support their development.
• Parents speak extremely positively about the setting. They praise the 'wonderful' staff for the relationships they make with their children and the support they offer to their families. They say that their children love coming to the setting. Parents feel that staff keep them well informed about what their child is doing at the setting. They feel that their children make good progress in their learning and development. Parents highly recommend the setting to others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consistently challenge children's learning more effectively as they play to help them make the best possible progress
• extend opportunities for children to develop independence and ensure these opportunities are consistently recognised and promoted by staff.