Little Star Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they are happy and feel secure at this welcoming setting. They smile as they arrive and enjoy sitting together to eat breakfast. Staff create a calm and nurturing environment. This helps children to settle quickly and build strong bonds with staff.

Children confidently explore the room and show curiosity in the toys and learning experiences on offer. For example, they say, 'wow!', as they mix glitter and marshmallows into dough and pretend to make pancakes. Staff build on this curiosity and expertly extend children's skills and knowledge.

Staff know the children well. They use their secure knowledge of child development and children's interests to plan a balanced curriculum. Children show excitement for learning. They keenly involve themselves in the motivating activities staff prepare for them. They excitedly play and learn, inside and outside, and dance to the tidy-up music. Children make good progress in all areas of learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Staff value and respect children and offer them lots of opportunities to make choices and share their thoughts and ideas. For example, children choose what toys they would like outside and what songs they would like the digital speaker to play. This supports children to develop a positive sense of self.

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

• Staff treat all children as unique individuals and encourage their creativity. Children relish in decorating their own chocolate cakes how they wish. They engage in this activity for an extended period of time. This concentration and focus enables staff to teach children how to use a range of tools. Children show pride in their achievements and demonstrate their well-developed physical skills.
• The manager has a clear vision for the setting: to provide the best quality care and opportunities for all children. Staff share this vision. The manager supports staff's continuing professional development and thoughtfully considers their well-being. As a result, staff are highly motivated and demonstrate high levels of commitment to their role and to the children they care for.
• Parents receive daily feedback about what their children have been learning, their care routines and suggestions for continuing this learning at home. Parents speak extremely positively about the support and attention staff give to children. They talk about staff being like their 'extended family'. These positive partnerships help to embed children's knowledge and skills.
• Children develop good listening and communication skills. Staff sing to children, comment on what they are doing, echo back what they say and skilfully ask questions to challenge their thinking. For example, staff ask, 'what do you think will happen if we try a bigger car?', as children push toy cars through a tube. However, staff do not always make the most of opportunities to read to children and engage them in stories and non-fiction books to further enhance children's language development and increase their learning of new vocabulary.
• Staff provide a range of opportunities to help extend children's understanding of their local environment and the world around them. They often visit the library, park and local farm. Children toast marshmallows on the fire pit in the summer, and they plant seeds in the garden. These opportunities enrich children's knowledge and ignite their curiosity.
• Children benefit from the carefully planned curriculum, which builds on what they can do and what they already know. Staff use assessment effectively to identify and close any gaps in children's learning. In the main, children make timely progress in all areas of learning. However, staff sometimes miss opportunities to support older children to interact and play with each other, to further develop their social interaction skills.
• Children are learning how to manage tasks independently and how to keep themselves safe. Staff teach children how to hold knives safely as they chop their fruit at snack time, and they talk about how to sit still while they eat. Staff use phrases like 'sit carefully so that you don't wibble wobble and bump.' The setting provides a range of nutritious and balanced meals, and children are supported to clean their teeth after breakfast. This gives children a strong foundation for learning about healthy lifestyles.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with more opportunities to listen to and engage in stories and non-fiction books, to enhance their language development and extend their learning of new vocabulary to the highest level
• provide more activities to support older children to begin to play with each other, to promote children's interaction and social skills.