Little Swans Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and thrive in this nurturing environment. Staff greet children and parents as they arrive, and they enjoy listening to children as they tell them what they have been doing outside of the nursery. Children are eager to become involved in activities and settle quickly into the nursery day. Staff plan and implement an interesting curriculum which covers all aspects of learning. Staff encourage children and skilfully support their learning. Children enjoy being creative. Younger children put glue onto foam eggs and carefully dip the eggs into glitter. Staff support their emerging language and introduce words such as 'sparkle' and 'shiny'. They encourage children to name the colour of the glitter they are using. Children are mesmerised as they watch the glitter sparkling as they turn the eggs around in their hands. Staff encourage children's awareness of the living world and how things grow. Older children enjoy taking care of tomato and pepper seeds they have planted. They recognise that the seeds need water and sunshine to grow and carefully pour water onto the seeds. Staff provide many opportunities for children to build their fine motor skills. Children thoroughly enjoy manipulating dough in their hands. They roll it, pat it, pull it and try and flatten it using rolling pins.

Staff build positive relationships with children. Affection is readily given and received. Staff are positive role models. They give gentle reminders to children about sharing and being kind to one another. Children's confidence and self-esteem blossom through the praise and encouragement staff bestow on them. Children develop independence. They understand the need to wash their hands at appropriate times during the day, such as before mealtimes and after using the bathroom.

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

• Leaders and staff have worked hard to make significant improvements to the nursery. Staff all receive training and support to raise the quality of teaching. Effective observations of staff practice ensure that staff understand what is expected of them in delivering the curriculum. Consequently, children are accessing activities and resources, and staff skilfully interact alongside them.
• Staff report high levels of well-being. They have access to training to help them in their role and say that leaders are supportive. Staff receive regular information about safeguarding, and displays around the room support staff to know what action to take if they are concerned about children in their care.
• The key-person system is effective. Staff know their children very well. Detailed information is gathered from parents, which helps staff to plan activities that will ignite children's thirst for learning. Leaders have made changes to their curriculum to help staff plan more precisely for children's next steps in learning.
• This needs to be fully embedded so that staff can continually enhance and extend activities to challenge children even further and support the progress in their learning.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. All children's learning plans and targets are updated and reviewed with outside agencies that may also be involved with the care of the children. This holistic approach ensures that children make the progress they are capable of.
• All children, including those who speak English as an additional language, are supported to understand nursery activities and routines. Staff wear lanyards showing pictures of different activities for children to see. In addition, boards displaying activities of what is happening now and next are used in the rooms as visual aids. This helps children to transition from different activities and nursery routines. However, on occasion, these transitions mean that children sit for extended periods. For example, they sit and listen to a story before lunch. Children then sit to eat lunch, which is followed by a further activity where children sit. This means that some children become disengaged and do not gain the most from the curriculum on offer.
• Good hygiene practices are followed by staff and children. Children know to wash their hands after messy play, being outdoors, before snack and lunch. Staff encourage children to use their self-care skills to wipe their own noses and then gently remind children to wash their hands afterwards. This helps to prevent cross-contamination.
• Staff promote equality and diversity throughout the nursery. Stories and resources teach children about others who may be different from them and that it is OK to be different. Children learn about different communities beyond their own. Outdoors, children access a role-play Indian clothing and jewellery store. Parents have donated clothing and shoes, which children love to explore and wear. Trips to the library and a local care home offer children experiences different to their own.
• Parents are happy with the care their children receive. They say that staff are caring and friendly. Information about children's learning progress is shared via an online app. Parents are invited into the nursery to read with children. There is lending library to borrow books to take home. This helps parents to support their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further embed the curriculum to continually enhance children's learning so that they make even more progress
• consider the nursery routines and how better to use these so that children do not sit for long periods.