Little Wonders Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager, who is also the provider, has worked hard to address the actions raised at the previous inspection. The manager and deputy manager work hands-on and are actively involved in the day-to-day running of the nursery. This has enabled them to use effective reflection of practice and make the necessary improvements. This includes highlighting the training needs of staff. Staff are now much more knowledgeable and confident to deliver the intended curriculum. For example, they use their observations and assessments of children, alongside children's interests, to plan suitable activities that build on what children already know and can do.

Staff treat children fairly and with respect and have high expectations for their behaviour. Staff recognise that some children are struggling to share, take turns and form friendships. Therefore, they have adapted their curriculum to support this. For example, they implement small-group activities designed to build on children's growing communication and social skills. These include reading stories, singing songs and playing games that require children to wait their turn and make their predictions. These interventions are helping to close any identified gaps in children's learning and development.

The arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well embedded. The provider works closely with parents to ensure that children receive their full entitlement to early years funding. This further supports the good progress that children make. Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents describe the setting as a 'family' and say the provider and staff are 'very supportive'.

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

• In the main, staff's interactions with children are positive and support children's communication and language skills well. For example, staff use positional language well as they play and interact with children. However, there are times when staff do not adapt their teaching quickly enough and provide further challenges when engaged in conversations with children. This does not support all children to enhance their speaking skills even further.
• The extremely supportive manager provides lots of appropriate training and support for the staff. For example, recent training to help staff further support children's listening and social skills is implemented well across the team. As a result, this is making a difference in the progress children make in these areas. However, monitoring of staff's practice is not yet robust enough to help them further improve all areas of their educational practice to consistently high levels.
• The arrangements for monitoring children's progress are robust. The manager and deputy manager act quickly when they identify any children who may require additional support. They work in partnership with parents and other professionals to implement targeted learning plans that support children's individual next steps and help them catch up to their peers. As a result, all children make the progress they are capable of.
• Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their literacy skills. Staff enthusiastically read stories and ask children to predict what might happen next. Outdoors, younger children make marks using large brushes as they pretend to paint the floor. Older children purposefully write and draw using paper and pens. When needed, staff model how to hold the pen correctly and phonetically sound out words, such as children's names as they attempt to write them. These experiences help children to develop the skills needed for future writing and spelling.
• The curriculum is designed to enhance and extend children's imaginations and develop their creativity skills. For instance, younger children are encouraged to mix paints and predict what new colours they have made. Older children are challenged to create their own observational paintings of daffodils. As a result, children remain highly engaged and are able to experiment and bring their ideas to life.
• Staff weave mathematical concepts through children's play and during routines. For example, staff model mathematical language such as 'shorter' and 'longer' as they encourage children to compare the size of objects. As children fill containers, staff ask them to predict how many scoops it will take to fill them. This supports children to strengthen their knowledge of wider mathematical concepts.
• Staff share information with parents about the importance of good oral hygiene routines and children are encouraged to brush their teeth at nursery after eating. This supports children to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to develop positive attitudes for the future.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen supervision arrangements so staff receive more incisive feedback and closer monitoring to improve their practice even further
• continue to develop the curriculum for communication and language to provide more challenge and enhance children's speaking skills even further.