Living Spring Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the nursery. Staff provide children with the utmost care, and interactions are highly sensitive and nurturing. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Staff warmly welcome every child, and place the relationship they have with the children at the heart of everything they do. Children form very strong bonds with all members of staff.

Staff are excellent role models. Children's behaviour is exceptional. They follow the rules of the setting, and share, tidy up and use their manners. Staff support all children to develop their independence. Children learn to dress themselves and take responsibility for their self-care and hygiene from an early age. For example, children learn to use different fasteners, such as zips, buttons and poppers. This is reinforced by staff with praise, which supports children to develop their self-worth.

Each child has a highly qualified key person, who knows them exceptionally well. Staff plan challenging and interesting activities that support children to reach the next stage in their development. For example, as children confidently handle cutters, staff move on to teaching them to use knives safely. This enables children to gain skills that they will need in life. Children make rapid progress as they develop their confidence and independence.

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

• Staff have planned an incredibly ambitious curriculum that challenges children and supports them to achieve their next steps. Children are active participants in their learning. They engage with the learning on offer and make strong progress in all areas of their learning. Staff delight in children's enthusiasm as they learn, and offer praise and encouragement for their achievements.
• Staff support children's growing communication and language skills extremely well. Children are presented with rich learning opportunities that support them to add to their growing vocabulary. For example, as children learn about the water cycle, they are introduced to words such as 'precipitation' and 'condensation'. Through these experiences, children acquire new and interesting words.
• The quality of education is excellent. Staff continually put the children's interests at the forefront of what they do. For example, when learning about people who help us, children are given a choice of how to extend this learning. Children choose to build a fire engine using interlocking bricks. As children's interests are catered for, they stay engaged and focused for long periods.
• Staff support children to be kind and respectful individuals from a very young age. Children engage in 'grace and courtesy' circle times. Staff model different behaviours using props to help children to relate them to real-life situations.
• Through these circle times, children learn to value others and treat people with courtesy and kindness.
• Parent partnership is a true strength of this setting. Staff have worked hard to develop exceptionally strong bonds with all parents. For example, parents are invited to workshops in the nursery about different aspects of child development. This means that parents learn to support their children's learning in different areas. Parents speak incredibly favourably about the setting and the amazing progress that their children have made during their time there.
• Leaders are fantastic role models for the nursery. The manager leads her team with pride. She heavily invests in staff training and supports all staff to develop their understanding and knowledge of child development. This means that children benefit from highly qualified and enthusiastic staff. Staff put time and effort into providing a high-quality provision for all children.
• Staff support children to build strong physical skills. For example, babies have an abundance of opportunities to walk along furniture and use toys to aid their balance. Staff have adapted an outdoor space to support babies' growing physical development. Babies enjoy fresh air as they strengthen their leg muscles in preparation for walking. Staff give the safeguarding of children the maximum priority. They are extremely vigilant in their supervision of children.
• Staff support children to build their resilience and perseverance skills. For example, when presented with a challenging activity involving a magnetic fishing rod and fish, children persevere until they are successful. Children gain a sense of achievement through these experiences and feel proud of themselves.
• Staff engage exceptionally well with other professionals and work hard to establish links with the local community. The deputy manager, who is also the special educational needs coordinator, acknowledges how successful partnerships are integral to supporting children's progress.