Manor Farm Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe and secure in this nursery. They have strong bonds with all staff. Younger children wake from their sleep and enjoy cuddles with staff. Older children share the excitement of their experiences from home. For example, they excitedly tell staff how they carved pumpkins with spoons and knives for Halloween. Children display very good behaviour. Staff have high expectations for behaviour throughout the nursery. The youngest children giggle together and hold hands as they jump and splash in puddles. Older children confidently ask friends if they can join their play. Children say, 'Of course you can,' and cooperatively play together. Children have very good manners. The youngest children use sign language to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Older children independently use manners in their daily language.

Children of all ages benefit from daily fresh air and physical exercise. Babies enjoy walks around the farm in pushchairs and opportunities to see the animals. Toddlers learn the importance of caring for animals when they feed and stroke the rabbits. Older children pedal bicycles and tractors. They work together to push the tractors up the grass mound so they can 'go fast' back to the bottom.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who require additional support are very well supported. Staff have a very good knowledge of children's starting points and how best to move them to the next stage. The special educational needs coordinator makes referrals to outside agencies in a timely manner and supports parents well. This ensures children get all the help they require to make progress in their development.

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

• The management and staff teams have attended various training courses since the last inspection to enhance their practice. It is evident that this is embedded throughout the curriculum within the nursery. Staff have a clear, consistent approach to how they communicate with children and how they promote children's communication. Staff have a positive attitude to managing children's behaviour and use techniques that quickly defuse any unwanted behaviour. Children are well behaved and learn the importance of communication.
• Children are respectful and considerate of all their friends. While in the garden, children construct 'pies' with sand for all their friends to 'eat'. A child joins the play and tells their friends they cannot eat the 'pies' as they have allergies. Children helpfully accommodate their friend's request as they get clean utensils and plates to make a new 'pie' to ensure it is suitable for their friend to 'eat'. Children are confident to talk to their friends about their needs.
• Staff provide a curriculum to all children that promotes various opportunities to learn and develop independence. The youngest children wash their own hands and learn to feed themselves yoghurts and fruit at snack using spoons. Older children find their own coats and wellies and put them on ready for outdoor play. They use the toilet independently and confidently ask for support if they need it. All children are confident in their independence skills.
• Staff provide all children with an environment that is rich with language. Babies explore sensory bags, and staff add words, such as 'bang' and 'clap', while they explore. Toddlers intently engage with nursery rhymes that staff sing to them. They copy actions to the rhymes. Older children engage with an experiment. Staff use words, such as 'pipette' and 'suction', to describe what is happening. Children learn new vocabulary and use this in their play.
• Staff plan exciting group activities to entice and engage children. Young children sit intently for story time, eagerly listening for what will happen next. Older children enjoy a 'firework' activity with oil and water. Children watch closely as they take turns to add ingredients to the solution and see what will happen. However, on occasion, groups are too large for children to wait their turn and keep their engagement. Children become disengaged before the activity ends, and staff lose the opportunity to extend children's learning even further.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and the support they receive from the friendly staff team. They report their children love attending and have made good progress since they started. Parents report they receive good verbal information on a day-to-day basis from the staff team and speak highly of the online communication system.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to carefully plan group activities to meet the needs of all the children and to extend their learning even further.