Make Waves Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children, parents and carers on arrival. Their nurturing approach supports young children to flourish and promotes emotional security. Staff share key information with parents to support the day ahead. Babies are gently and sensitively encouraged to settle. Staff offer cuddles and follow babies' routines closely, which supports their emotional well-being. Staff encourage children to follow their interests by offering them a wide range of things for them to choose from. As a result, children remain engaged in their play and have a positive attitude to learning.

Leaders develop an interesting, broad curriculum. Each area in the room is set up to cover the seven areas of learning. Staff use their understanding of each child's abilities to support their development through playful learning, helping children to learn the skills they need to grow. For example, they immerse themselves in water play, where they use a variety of objects to scoop up the water. They explore concepts such as size, weight and volume. Staff quickly identify children who may need extra support and promptly prepare them for their next stage of learning. They take steps to help close any gaps in children's learning and development.

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

• Staff plan the curriculum with children's interests in mind. They make regular observations to identify children's favourite activities and next steps for learning. Staff ensure that children have varied play opportunities to develop these interests further. They build on what they know and can do through well-thought-out experiences. For example, they know that children are particularly interested in dinosaurs, so they plan an activity hiding dinosaurs in shredded paper to motivate and engage children in their learning.
• Children are confident and friendly. They engage visitors in conversation and invite them into their play. Staff have high expectations for behaviour. They consistently give age-appropriate messages that help children know what is expected of them. For example, when children begin to run indoors, they remind them to use their 'walking feet'. They reinforce positive behaviours with praise, creating a supportive, engaging environment. Consequently, children behave very well.
• Staff promote communication and language well overall. They create opportunities for social interactions. Staff listen carefully to children, repeat what they say, teach new words and correct pronunciation. For example, babies explore pine cones in water, so the staff add words such as 'spikey' and 'hard'. These experiences help all children to make good progress in developing their speaking and listening skills.
• Staff promote children's independence and self-care skills well. Children help set up the table for mealtimes, which gives them a sense of responsibility. Staff encourage children to self-serve their meals. Once finished, children take their plates and cups to the trolley and scrape their plates, supporting children to manage everyday tasks for themselves.
• On the whole, staff interactions are good. Children are provided with opportunities to make the progress of which they are capable. For example, they manipulate play dough using their hands, and children express they are creating 'shark teeth.' As a result, children strengthen their hand muscles to support future writing skills. However, on occasions, staff do not ensure that the quietest children are fully engaged in activities. Therefore, they do not fully benefit from the learning.
• The management team creates an ethos of effective teamwork. Staff comment that they enjoy working at the nursery and say that they feel valued. Staff benefit from regular meetings and opportunities. There is a strong commitment to staff training to support their skills and professional development.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff share detailed information with parents about their child's day and the progress their child makes through an online platform. Staff gather a range of information from parents when children start to help them meet their individual needs. Parents comment on how happy their children are to attend and that the staff are kind, caring and supportive.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• Support staff to develop and adapt group activities to enable all children, particularly quieter children, to be able to fully engage and gain the most out of the learning experience.