Longscroft Children's Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and settle quickly. They have warm relationships with the staff and feel safe in their care. They confidently seek reassurance and support from them and younger children enjoy cuddles. Children are keen to take part in planned activities and also make choices about what to do. For example, they go to fetch water to add to the sand so they can make sandcastles. They enjoy exploring. They find shapes hidden in gloop and find out what happens when they add and mix different colourings. Children behave well. They talk about the rules with staff, such as 'kind hands', and willingly follow instructions.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They provide a varied range of learning opportunities. They adapt these to help all children, including those who need extra help, to make good progress from their individual starting points. They provide a well-resourced learning environment indoors and each room has a dedicated outdoor play area which children enjoy using. Babies wear all-weather suits so that they can crawl around even when the grass is wet. Children of all ages have been involved in growing pumpkins for Halloween in their allotment.

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

• Staff know children well and understand what they need to learn. They use information from parents to establish children's starting points and regularly assess their progress at nursery. They use this knowledge to plan and provide a wide range of activities which interest and engage children. Staff carefully identify any gaps or delays in children's learning. They promptly implement effective strategies to help them catch up, and work closely with other professionals to make sure that children get any extra support they need.
• Children develop good communication skills. Staff use a wide variety of strategies to support their emerging language skills. They talk with children about what they are doing, and children chat to one another as they play. Staff provide effective support for those whose speech and language are delayed. This includes using visual aids, song bags, puppets and small-group work.
• Children play happily together and show respect and care for one another. For example, a child helps another with their shoelace. Children learn to share and take turns and willingly follow instructions, such as lining up to go outside. Older children develop independent skills. They go to wash their hands by themselves and take responsibility for tasks, such as checking the outdoor area for hazards.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff frequently share information with parents in a wide variety of ways to ensure that they are involved fully in their children's learning. They encourage them to share information about their child's development at home and give them ideas of how to build on what their child is learning at nursery. Parents give positive feedback about the nursery and the support for their children's care and learning.
• There is a strong culture of reflection at the nursery. Leaders and staff continually evaluate the provision and their practice in order to make adaptations and improvements to enhance children's learning. For example, they have made many changes to the outdoor environment to provide additional play opportunities for all ages and to extend children's learning.
• The close-knit team of staff work well together. They have good opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge and the manager prioritises their well-being. She has an open-door policy for staff and they have free access to a counselling service.
• Staff do not consistently take every opportunity to extend children's learning, with particular regard to introducing new vocabulary and encouraging children to use good manners.
• Staff are not always well prepared for routine activities, leading to delays and missed opportunities for children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop teaching practice further to ensure that all staff consistently take every opportunity to extend children's learning, with particular regard to introducing new vocabulary and encouraging them to use good manners
• ensure that routine activities are well prepared to avoid delays and enable staff to spend more focused time with the children.