Loughborough Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff place children at the heart of everything they do. They work with parents to gather detailed information about the child's interests, routines and care needs before they start at the nursery. Staff tailor settling-in sessions for new children to help ease the transition from home. Children who are new to the nursery receive lots of cuddles and reassurance from their key person. This helps them feel safe and secure as they become familiar with the new environment.

Staff recognise the importance of encouraging children to develop a sense of responsibility and independence. They help children learn to manage appropriate risks. Staff remind children to hold on to the handrail as they walk up and down the stairs. If children are not feeling confident, staff encourage them to come down the stairs on their bottom, slowly and steadily shuffling down each step in turn.

Pre-school children learn about a healthy diet as they take part in a food tasting activity. Staff talk to the children about the range of seasonal vegetables and fruit that grow and are harvested in the United Kingdom during the autumn. As children try the fruit and vegetables, staff encourage them to think about when they have tried them previously. Children identify the different meals that they have had at the nursery that include the fruit and vegetables, such as recognising that there are sweet potatoes in the curry that they enjoy eating. Children are able to recall prior learning about the positive benefits of eating fruit and vegetables as part of their diet.

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

• The manager has implemented an ambitious curriculum that focuses on children's well-being and enables them to safely explore their surroundings and grow into happy and confident young people. Staff understand children's individual development well and set them appropriate next steps. However, staff are not always clear on what the overall intention of the curriculum is. This means that they do not consistently focus on supporting children's skills further.
• Overall, staff are good role models for communication, they respond to babies as they babble and model the name of the toys they are playing with. Toddlers enjoy listening to familiar stories being read, and they are confident to join in with familiar lines. Staff introduce new words to pre-school children and help extend children's vocabulary. However, staff do not maximise opportunities that arise during their interactions with children to extend children's communication skills further. For example, if children do not respond to questions asked of them, staff do not provide the answer.
• Partnerships with parents are a key strength of the setting. Parents confirm that they receive information about their child's development and staff encourage them to support their child's ongoing learning and development at home. Parents speak highly of the nursery, the attentive staff that care for their children and the wide range of experiences their children are afforded, such as the sessions they attend at the forest school.
• Staff are committed to working with other professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They put plans in place to help children reach their full potential. They use additional funding to provide targeted intervention. Staff use visual aids, such as picture cards, alongside verbal communication to encourage children to develop their spoken language and their communication skills.
• Pre-school children practise their physical skills as they carefully balance to walk along wooden beams. Staff remind children to take turns and be careful not to accidently push other children as they use the equipment. Children demonstrate care for each other. They take the hands of their friends to support them as they walk along the planks. Staff model and teach children new skills, such as reminding them of the need to bend their knees when jumping and landing. Staff reward children's achievements and kindness with praise. This motivates children to keep trying when they struggle to balance or jump, and it builds their self-esteem when they succeed.
• Staff support children to develop an understanding about good hygiene practices. Children know that they need to wash their hands before they eat to help keep them healthy and prevent germs from getting into their tummies. Staff support toddlers to use serving utensils to transfer food from serving dishes on to their own plates. Any spills are quickly and swiftly cleaned up to prevent any accidents. Staff praise children for waiting patiently for their turn to serve their meal.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• engage children more effectively in conversations and extend their communication and language skills further
• support all staff to have a clear understanding of the curriculum intent so that their teaching is consistently focused on what they want children to learn.