Little Stars Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children into a safe, calm and nurturing nursery environment. They consider children's interests to plan interesting and varied activities that children are eager to explore. The manager and staff ensure the settling-in routines include prioritising children's emotional well-being. Staff reassure children and offer comfort when they are upset. They demonstrate sensitivity to children's individual needs and work on building strong relationships with children. This enables children to develop positive attitudes to learning and successfully build on their existing skills and knowledge. Overall, children are engaged well in activities and learning, demonstrating good behaviour consistently.

Staff have high expectations of children and help them to develop the necessary skills for their future learning. Staff ensure pre-school children enhance their independence skills further. For example, staff teach children to use cutlery correctly during mealtimes. They also teach children to learn to use a knife safely. During snack time, following encouragement from staff, older children confidently and safely cut slices of banana and share with their friends. Children beam with pride when staff praise their cutting skills. Staff are attentive to the needs of babies in their care and provide support to develop their independence skills well. During mealtimes, they help babies to learn to use cutlery to feed themselves and keep them engaged by providing positive praise such as 'well done for using your spoon'. This helps babies to feel safe and secure.

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

• Staff understand what children can successfully do and what they need to learn next. The manager and staff have a good understanding of how to sequence the curriculum and monitor children's progress. This ensures children make good progress step by step.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. They read to children regularly and introduce them to a wide range of vocabulary. Regular trips to the park have enabled children to successfully expand their vocabulary. For example, children confidently name the different animals they see in the animal enclosures, such as deer, goat and ducks, saying they make the 'quack quack' sound.
• Children have lots of opportunities to build their core strength and coordination skills. Staff plan varied activities, such as wall climbing, balancing on beams, and riding bikes and scooters in the garden area. Younger children, including babies, are encouraged to make marks, and older children trace letters in their name. This ensures that children develop their physical skills well.
• The manager and staff are committed to enhancing the provision on offer and continually evaluate children's learning and welfare. The manager provides regular coaching sessions to develop staff's practice further. They have developed strong partnerships with external professionals, such as local nurseries, and share good practice. Staff speak positively of the support they receive from the manager and feel extremely valued and motivated. This enables staff to support children with their learning and development effectively.
• Staff lead group activities, such as circle time to develop children's communication and social interaction skills. For example, children take turns and keenly greet everyone. They practise counting backwards and forwards and play with different musical instruments, sharing well. However, at times, the organisation of the group activities could be enhanced to increase children's concentration levels further. For example, the length of mixed-age group activity times can be reviewed to ensure it is suitable for children of all ages.
• Children benefit from local trips that the manager and staff plan. For example, children enjoy eating healthy snacks in cafes and shopping for fruit and vegetables from local shops. These trips help children to gain an understanding of their local community and the wider world.
• The manager and staff teach children about the various aspects that keep them safe and healthy. Staff discuss road safety and encourage older children to put their outdoor shoes, coats and high-visibility jackets on before leaving on a trip. Staff use mealtimes as a teaching opportunity and discuss the benefits of healthy eating. This supports children to develop healthy attitudes.
• The manager and staff have developed strong partnership with parents. They regularly keep parents informed about their child's experience, learning and development at the nursery. Parents report that their children thoroughly enjoy attending and have made great progress since starting. They compliment the 'home-from-home' environment that the manager and staff have created.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to review the organisation of some group activities to further enhance children's high levels of involvement.