Magic Steps Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are greeted warmly by managers and staff on their arrival. Settling-in procedures are effective and new children develop secure attachments with their key person. This helps children's emotional development. Children are happy and have close bonds with staff. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Staff work closely with parents to identify children's starting points in learning. They gather information about children's interests and what they can already do. They use this information well to plan an effective curriculum.

Children behave well. They say 'please' and 'thank you' and help at tidy-up time. Staff are positive role models. They speak to each other with respect, and ask children before they wipe their noses and change nappies. Children are energetic and keen to learn. Even the youngest children show confidence as they explore their environment and interact with their peers. Toddlers communicate well with staff, using their words to express their needs. Children develop their small muscles as they explore play dough or practise their mark-making skills. Pre-school children listen intently as staff read stories. They are given time to ask questions to extend their learning and comment on the story to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained. Children make good progress.

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

• The nursery's special educational needs coordinator works closely with other professionals to support individual children's needs. The manager has high expectations for all children and uses additional funding to ensure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have access to the curriculum and make good progress.
• Staff have a very good relationship with parents. Parents comment that staff share noticeable improvements in their children's confidence and independence. Parents value the ideas that staff give them to extend their children's learning at home.
• Children's language and communication is of paramount importance in the nursery. Staff provide a language-rich environment where they talk to children and sing songs. They also use visual prompts, such as picture cards and a pictorial timetable, to help children to understand the rules and routines. In addition, staff provide small-group sessions to further assist those children who need support in this area.
• Staff support children to develop their physical skills effectively. Children have regular access to the outdoor space and use this to run, climb and kick balls. They manage their coordination as they climb up and down the climbing equipment and navigate around obstacles as they run.
• Children learn about the different cultures and languages represented in the nursery. Staff share materials and songs from their own cultures and assist children in learning about various cultural festivals. They provide resources, such as books and posters, to reflect children in the nursery.
• Staff support children to keep healthy. They provide children with healthy food choices and show younger children how to brush their teeth. Staff follow good procedures to ensure that children with an intolerance or dietary requirement are catered for.
• The manager evaluates the nursery effectively and works with the team to improve children's experiences. Staff say they feel supported by their managers and that their well-being is always taken into account. They undertake regular training initiatives and implement what they learn to benefit all children.
• Staff plan a wide range of interesting activities around children's interests. They make regular observations of what children know and can do and use this information to plan what they need to learn next. Overall, children learn good mathematical skills. For example, staff encourage children to identify shapes and count as they play. However, during everyday routines and activities, staff do not maximise children's awareness of capacity, quantity, weight and mathematical language.
• Overall, children are focused and concentrate for extended periods of time. However, older children sometimes lose interest in activities and resources as they are not as challenging as they could be. Staff do not consistently extend older children's learning to a high enough level when working with them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen and incorporate the teaching of mathematics more consistently throughout the day
• develop staff's practice so that they can understand how to extend and deepen older children's learning, including how activities and resources can provide challenge.