Lyndhurst Private Pre-School Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed by the nurturing staff when they arrive at this vibrant and friendly nursery. They wave goodbye to their parents and eagerly explore their environment. Children feel safe and form strong attachments with familiar staff, who know them well. Staff ensure that children feel valued and secure and offer them regular comfort to support their emotional well-being.

Children are curious learners. Staff plan a curriculum that supports children to continuously develop their learning as they move through the nursery. They use children's interests effectively to create activities and experiences for children. For instance, children learn about Remembrance Day. They use leaves to create their own poppy displays in the outdoor nature area. This enables children to flourish and build on their skills and knowledge ready for their eventual move to school.

Children behave well. Staff are good role models and have high expectations for children's behaviour. They support all children to share, take turns and cooperate with each other. At the beginning of activities, staff remind children of the rules, such as keeping sticks low during outdoor play and good listening. Children receive regular praise and encouragement for their efforts and demonstrate high levels of confidence and self-esteem.

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

• Overall, the new leadership team is strong. They provide staff with regular supervision sessions to discuss and share key information. Staff say that they feel well supported and thoroughly enjoy their work. In addition to mandatory training, staff have access to an online training platform to develop their practice. However, leaders do not consistently focus training opportunities precisely enough for all staff. For example, staff are not always clear about the learning intentions of planned activities, to further extend children's learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported exceptionally well. Staff provide children with stimulating and engaging experiences to support their needs and development. They work together with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to provide tailored support to meet children's individual needs. For example, staff use non-verbal forms of communication, such as picture cards and visual timetables.
• Staff know the children well and generally engage in high-quality interactions with them as they play. Children are motivated and show a positive attitude to their learning. For example, children enthusiastically make their own play dough together. Staff ask them questions to extend their learning. However, on occasion, staff are involved in routine activities and, therefore, are not consistently available to fully support children's learning.
• Staff support children to learn how to take care of themselves and live healthy lifestyles. Children have daily opportunities to play outside and be physically active. For example, they take turns to practise their balancing skills as they walk across planks. Staff offer children praise and encouragement and challenge them to jump off at the end. Children enjoy healthy and well-balanced meals and snacks throughout the day. Staff help children to understand about the importance of maintaining good oral health through planned activities and conversations.
• Children are encouraged to be independent from an early age. They make choices about which resources they would like to play with throughout the day. Older children eagerly help to set the table at lunchtime and serve themselves. Staff support children to wash their own hands and go to the toilet independently. This supports children to become increasingly independent and ready for their next stage of their learning.
• In general, partnership with parents is good. Parents speak highly of the nursery. They say staff are welcoming and supportive of children's interests and needs. Staff provide parents with daily conversations about their child's day, online photos and have recently introduced parent evenings. However, not all parents are aware of their child's next steps to help them support children's learning at home. In addition, links with other settings that children attend are not fully explored to enable regular information sharing.
• Staff successfully support children's communication skills. They guide play and learning well with modelling of language and use effective questioning to extend conversations. Staff respond to babies' babble and encourage them to repeat simple words and sounds. Children enjoy listening to rhymes and stories as part of their daily routine. Children become confident communicators and express themselves effectively.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus training more precisely to support staff to be clear about the learning intentions of planned activities for children
• improve the organisation of staff deployment to help fully engage children and support their learning
• strengthen partnerships with parents and other settings that children attend to share next steps and provide continuity in children's learning.