Lord Williams's School Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy to be at nursery. They are greeted warmly by staff on arrival and confidently say goodbye to their parents or carers. Babies show especially warm attachments to the staff who look after them. Babies enjoy the smiles and cuddles they receive throughout the day. Children show that they feel safe in the environment and with the staff.

Children behave appropriately for their age. Staff recognise that, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some children have had fewer opportunities to learn about sharing and turn taking. Overall, staff offer children effective and gentle support to develop these skills. Children are welcoming to visitors and are polite when asking and answering questions.

Children learn from a curriculum that focuses on their social, physical and language development. They develop many of the key skills and dispositions they need for their future learning. This includes starting school when the time comes. Babies learn to crawl, walk and communicate their needs. Older children have plenty of opportunities to hold meaningful conversations and develop the muscle strength and control they will need for later writing. All children enjoy daily story and singing times.

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

• There is an effective literacy curriculum for all children. Staff are very effective in promoting a love of books and stories. Younger children find books, crawl onto staff laps and enjoy turning the pages and looking at the pictures. Older children are very excited to choose a book to take home. They show great pride in making their selection and putting it in their 'library bag'. Children eagerly gather together to listen to stories before meals.
• Children show levels of independence suitable for their age. Staff encourage them to do things for themselves when they can, such as putting on coats and scraping their plates after lunch.
• Staff understand the overall intent for the curriculum. However, sometimes, their planning for specific learning experiences is not as effective as it could be. Staff are not always clear about precisely what skills or knowledge they want children to gain from some adult-led activities. At these times, teaching and learning are less effective than at some other times.
• Children show they are developing well into curious and inquisitive learners. This is especially evident when children are outdoors. They enjoy using the available resources to test out their own ideas and find out what happens. For example, children enjoy mixing together mud and water. They discuss how this changes the appearance and feel of the mud. They wonder what will happen if they add more or less water to the mixture.
• Staff meet babies' care needs with great sensitivity. This good practice supports children's emotional well-being and feelings of security. Staff show babies nappies before they change them and explain what is going to happen. They make lots of eye contact and hold babies close to them as they feed them milk.
• All children have ample opportunities to develop a positive view of an active lifestyle. Babies and toddlers have plenty of space to practise their crawling and early walking skills. Older children enjoy the space outside to run and play energetically. Staff encourage them to practise their climbing and balancing skills. This good practice has a positive impact on children's health and fitness.
• The manager has made many improvements since she joined the nursery. She has accurately identified the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and put together a clear and concise action plan. She recognises that while the quality of staff practice is good overall, there remain some inconsistencies in the effectiveness with which staff support children's learning and behaviour. She has plans to monitor this closely and put in specific support where needed.
• Parents speak very highly of the staff. Parents describe staff as 'warm' and 'very caring'. Staff provided an effective programme of support for home learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. They used online communications to read to children. They provided parents with useful suggestions for activities to do at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to improve how they plan activities, so they focus more precisely on what they want children to learn next
• focus the monitoring of and support for staff on raising the overall quality of staff performance to a consistently high level.