Maahad Neighbourhood Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome as they arrive. They find their peg, hang up their coats and eagerly rush off to start their day. Newer children are given reassuring hugs and comfort when they need it. Children settle quickly and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the warm, inviting nursery.

Children's behaviour is good. They demonstrate good manners and confidently explain the nursery's 'golden rules'. This is because staff provide consistent reminders of the rules throughout the day. For example, when two children want the same toy, staff calmly remind them to be kind and allow them time to resolve minor conflicts for themselves. As a result, children learn to share, take turns and show great cooperation during their play.

Staff have created a stimulating learning environment with a wide range of activities that capture children's interests. Children show delight as they explore and create different sounds and noises with musical instruments. Other children strengthen their physical and mathematical skills. They carefully balance, count different amounts and increase their spatial awareness as they build with blocks. Furthermore, children extend their imagination and build on their own experiences as they act out being doctors and looking after sick patients.

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

• The manager has a positive attitude. She reflects on the provision and takes responsibility to make improvements. Staff are happy in their roles and comment that they feel well supported by the manager. They attend regular supervision sessions and discuss their key children's development and next steps. However, areas of improvement for staff are not always clearly identified to enable them to develop their practice further. As a result, some staff are not clear about their next steps in their professional development.
• Staff have a clear understanding of why activities have been planned, how these build on the children's existing abilities and what they intend for them to learn next. As a result, all children, including children who speak English as an additional language, are making the best progress.
• Overall, staff deploy themselves well and actively join in with children as they play, offering support and guidance. However, occasionally, staff do not encourage the quieter children to contribute fully in activities. On these occasions, the quieter children are overshadowed by the more confident ones, who capture more of the staff's attention. This means that during these times, the quieter children's learning experiences are not fully extended.
• Children show a genuine passion for stories and books. Staff ask them questions and offer ideas about what they think will happen next. As a result, children show great enthusiasm, are focused and develop a love of reading.
• Staff support children's creative development well. Children press and squeeze dough to make their desired shape. Staff teach children new words, such as 'mould' and 'knead' to describe their models. This helps broaden children's vocabulary and strengthens their hand and finger muscles to support their early writing skills.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents speak positively about the nursery and the staff team. They say they are very happy with their children's development. Parents receive lots of information regarding what their children are learning and are given ideas for them to support this further at home.
• Staff encourage children to be independent and help them to manage their own self-care. For example, children learn to put on their coats before going outside and they make their own snacks. Furthermore, children carry out good hygiene routines, as they blow their nose and sanitise their hands. This supports children with the skills that will benefit them when attending school and promotes their awareness of leading a healthy lifestyle.
• Children take regular trips out in their local community, such as visits to shops and parks. They go on autumn walks and talk about animals that hibernate in the winter. This provides children with a greater understanding of the natural world around them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance supervision sessions to focus on professional development opportunities and providing staff with clear targets, to enable them to provide the highest level of education to children
• focus more closely on supporting quieter and less-confident children to be fully engaged in their play and learning.