Little Sparks Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to come into this calm, nurturing and well-organised environment. They are welcomed warmly by their key workers and have the freedom to explore the indoor and outdoor environment. Children enjoy a healthy breakfast and get busy straight away, exploring the kitchen area, making play-dough creations and washing their 'babies' with soapy water and sponges.

Children have good friendships. They enjoy playing with their peers, saying 'sharing is caring' as they pass them a cake to put in the oven. children hug their friends as they arrive at nursery. Children really enjoy being outdoors and make the most of the garden, climbing on log stumps and engaging in sand and water activities. Children jump with delight as their favourite songs are played and join with actions and words together. They have the freedom to explore, make choices and to form their own ideas, meaning they feel valued and confident and can ask for help and initiate conversation. Children enjoy storytelling and are developing a love of reading as they retell and act out the story of 'The Three Little pigs' with puppets and props.

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

• The caring and professional staff team have strong relationships with children and their families. They take the time to get to know them really well and use this information to plan activities that support children's interests and help them make good progress.
• Children communicate well because staff focus on communication and language across the nursery and role model language in a variety of ways. For example, they repeat key words and model putting more words together. Children who are bilingual or speak English as an additional language learn new vocabulary quickly.
• The children demonstrate good levels of attention at focused activities. They listen and wait during a group game and are confident to join in with the familiar song. Children excitedly anticipate what is coming out of the special bucket and enjoy watching and listening to the surprise.
• Children have positive attitudes towards learning and enjoy outdoor play. They spend long periods of time learning about mixing colours. They use pump-and-spray bottles independently, and they are eager and excited to learn which colour they will make. Children have their own ideas and enjoy extending their play and selecting more resources.
• Children have well-developed fine-motor skills and have a variety of opportunities to practise these skills. They scoop wet sand into muffin trays, chop fruit into pieces at snack time and are developing good skills for early writing.
• Children are confident and independent and manage their own self-care. Staff warmly encourage children to persevere, and children do not give up easily, putting on their coats and shoes ready for rainy-day play, for example.
• Although staff have high expectations of children's behaviour and have put routines and boundaries in place, this is not fully implemented throughout the nursery day. For example, children who are running are not always stopped and reminded about walking feet.
• Staff identify children's needs and put specific plans and targets in place. They work closely with other professionals to ensure this is effective. Staff have a good knowledge of how children learn and, in addition, provide small-group activities which support children's progress further.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Parents report how pleased they are with the quality of care and education their children receive. They speak positively about how well their children settle and the healthy snack and meals the nursery provides. However, more needs to be done to involve parents in their child's learning, development and progress.
• Staff work well as a team. They have regular meetings to reflect on their practice and the learning experiences they provide for children. The manager makes good use of supervision meetings to support staff well-being. However, more training and development for staff is needed to raise practice to an even higher level.
• Dedicated leaders and managers have a clear and ambitious design for their curriculum and a desire to improve the outcomes for children. They champion the children in their nursery and lead with integrity, ensuring children receive the funding and support they require. The staff work together well to reflect and drive improvement plans forward.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• seek wider training opportunities to further develop staff's skills and knowledge and to raise the quality of teaching to the highest levels
• provide more opportunities for parents to be involved in their children's learning so they can support them at home
• fully implement behaviour expectations and routines so children can make the most of learning opportunities.