Little Scribblers Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from opportunities to grow their resilience, independence and become great problem solvers. Staff organise invitations to play to promote children's curiosity and engagement. This enables children to experience the skills and knowledge they need to prepare them for their next stage. For example, children enthusiastically develop their core muscles and balance through the use of balance bicycles and scooters. The youngest children feel proud when they stand on one leg to mount a balance bicycle. Children develop the ability to negotiate space while zooming up and down the gentle slope in the surroundings of the outdoor provision.

Children are curious, confident and happy. They have a good understanding of boundaries, routines and the setting's expectations. Staff are experts when sensitively guiding children to make the right choices to keep themselves learning, healthy and safe. As a result, children behave well, and they are keen to make the right choices. Parents are reassured by the consistent, warm and friendly team who keep their children safe. Staff have strong links with other parents, professionals and settings to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders ensure children who are in receipt of funding receive the enhancements in the provision they need to thrive. For example, children benefit from high staff ratios and additional resources to enable them to make progress.

As a result of COVID-19, the setting remains an outdoor setting. Leaders carefully plan the use of indoor space at key times for some children. For example, children access sleep, toileting and mealtimes indoors.

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

• Children eagerly play with cubes and dice, matching the number of cubes to the dots on the dice. Staff skilfully adapt the game to further children's individual knowledge and understanding of number.
• Children benefit from strong attachments with staff. Staff work well to gather information to support children's transition into the setting. For example, staff's knowledge of children's interests enables them to choose the right stories to read on arrival. Children settle quickly, begin to repeat their favourite phrases of the story and predict what will happen next.
• Children are immersed in high-quality interactions to support their communication and language. Staff engross children in conversations about their home life and family members that are important to them. Children develop back-and-forth interactions, sharing their views.
• Children enthusiastically learn to move their body to music through opportunities to dance as a whole group. Staff skilfully support the youngest children to join in, moving their body to the beat. Children excitedly copy the actions modelled by the staff and enjoy moments to improvise.
• Children enjoy a range of healthy snacks and lunch. Staff are great role models and sit with children to eat the range of healthy food on offer each day. They use this as an opportunity to talk about a range of foods, such as recalling the ingredients of how to make a carrot cake.
• Leaders do not always evaluate the effectiveness of training to address any gaps in staff knowledge or resolve any misunderstandings. At times, this hinders leaders from raising the quality of the provision for children.
• Staff are not always responsive to the youngest children's needs during care routines. For example, at mealtimes, the youngest children do not always have the opportunities to be independent.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to review and reflect on the impact of staff training and development to continually improve the quality of the setting
• enhance care routines for the youngest children during mealtimes, to ensure they have appropriate support and opportunities to develop their independence.