Little Wellies Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at nursery happy and eager to begin their day. They are greeted by friendly and cheerful staff, who know them well. Children's emotional well-being is given high priority. Staff give babies plenty of affection and comfort to ensure they are fully settled and feel secure enough to play. Children enjoy a wide range of experiences that are based around their interests and individual learning needs. For instance, following a visit from a mobile zoo, older children are fascinated with insects. Staff incorporate this into their planning and children enjoy searching for bugs in the garden.

Children demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning. Babies show a desire to explore and learn through hands-on play. They explore gloop using their hands and dinosaurs. Older children build an obstacle course outside using crates and planks. They work cooperatively together to move the planks in place and take it in turns to walk across, with limited support from staff being needed.

Children are well behaved and polite. The nursery has clear values and rules in place, which are embedded throughout the setting. Staff promote friendships, respect and kindness through positive reinforcement and praise. This helps children to begin to understand how they are feeling, and helps them to regulate their emotions.

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

• The nursery is homely and there is an emphasis on creating a 'family feel' in the environment. For example, photos of children and their families are displayed around the room for children to look at. Children talk about what makes them similar to and different from each other as they learn about different people and communities.
• The curriculum is well planned and sequenced. As children move through the nursery, they learn new skills and make progress in their learning. Staff want children to leave the nursery prepared for the future. They teach children to be independent, confident and social individuals.
• The manager has identified that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on some children's communication and language development. Staff are focusing on helping children to catch up in this area. Overall, successful strategies have been implemented to support children's speech. For example, staff have introduced the use of simple signing to help children to communicate.
• Generally, staff interact well with children and help them to develop their speaking skills. Children confidently talk about their interests and experiences at home and nursery. However, at times, staff do not use questioning techniques well enough to allow children to fully express themselves.
• Staff provide children with plenty of fresh air and exercise each day. Children have access to a spacious outdoor area where they develop their physical skills and learn about the world around them. Children help to plant and grow their own vegetables, care for the setting's pet guinea pig, and climb and balance on nursery apparatus.
• Staff promote children's independence and self-care skills successfully. Older children demonstrate this when they pour their own water at mealtimes and help to serve their food. Babies are encouraged to feed themselves independently and staff teach them to use cutlery.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified quickly. Support is put in place to help them to make progress. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to get children the help that they need. Additional funding is used successfully to enable children to be fully involved in nursery life.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are happy with the nursery and praise the kind, caring and dedicated staff. They say that all staff know their children very well and give detailed handovers about what children have been doing and learning each day.
• The manager monitors staff performance effectively. He regularly observes staff interactions and completes planned and spontaneous observations on their practice. He gives feedback to staff as and sets targets to help staff to improve.
• Staff undertake regular training to help them to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. For example, all staff are paediatric first-aid trained, and staff working with babies complete specific training in this area.
• Self-evaluation is successful. The manager considers the views of staff, children and parents when making improvements to the setting and curriculum. He regularly sends out surveys for parents to complete about different aspects of nursery, such as the settling-in process for new children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's use of teaching strategies to extend children's thinking and learning further.