Maple Leaf Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make a positive start to their learning in this warm and nurturing nursery. Staff help babies to build strong bonds with them and settle smoothly into nursery life. Children make good progress overall and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning, including starting school. Staff use their knowledge of children's interests and abilities well to develop their skills and understanding. For instance, babies learn to develop their fine hand movements as they squeeze and squash play dough and other tactile experiences. Older children confidently and independently use knives to cut fruit in their role play and at snack times or pick up small natural objects with pincers in their problem-solving activities. These skills help to support children's later writing experiences.

Children feel safe and are well cared for. They rise to staff's high expectations. Children behave well and show consideration towards others. For instance, three-year-old children thoughtfully work together to create a climbing structure to safely roll and balance on. Staff encourage two-year-old children to follow instructions from a picture recipe to mix their ingredients for 'pebble stew' in their mud kitchen. Parents and carers appreciate the strong support staff offer them to further prepare their children for learning, such as guidance on sleep and toilet training.

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

• Staff plan well overall to help children to build sequentially on their previous learning, particularly for their communication, personal and physical skills. However, occasionally, staff do not match learning precisely enough to children's abilities in order to fully enrich and support their learning. For example, they expect children to use writing skills they are not yet prepared for or use limited strategies to encourage children to use and remember new learning.
• The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged children well. Staff identify gaps in children's learning and development at an early stage and work closely with other professionals, such as speech therapists, to address them. They make good use of additional funding that children receive to support their learning through, for instance, enriching resources for their sensory development.
• Staff prioritise the development of children's communication skills. They make good use of well-chosen songs and rhymes to engage children in listening to and learning new words and phrases. Staff support early talkers to develop keywords to build simple phrases such as 'ready, steady, go' and 'one, two, three' as they climb and jump in their physical play.
• Staff encourage children to develop a love of books. They introduce children to a breadth of fiction, non-fiction and a wide range of songs and nursery rhymes that develop their language skills and knowledge of the world. For instance, babies learn to handle books and turn pages as they explore the feel of different materials on every page. Staff encourage older children to choose and appreciate favourite stories and to understand the plot and characters as they listen.
• Staff promote children's good behaviour and personal development well. Staff encourage children to say 'please' and 'thank you' throughout their play and at healthy snack times. They support children to make decisions and persist in activities. Staff skilfully help children who find it hard to manage their emotions to learn to play with others and control their behaviour. For instance, they encourage them to follow simple routines through the use of pictures and sign language to reassure and build their confidence.
• Leaders are ambitious and focused on developing the nursery to fully enrich children's lives and prepare them for their future learning. They regularly evaluate their practice, taking account of the views of staff, parents and children. Leaders support staff to build their skills and knowledge through training focused on children's needs, such as building their communication skills. Staff's morale is high.
• Strong links with parents are integral to children's learning. Parents appreciate the warm and caring attitudes the staff show towards their children and themselves. They welcome the guidance they receive on supporting their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• match activities and support more accurately to children's needs and abilities to build consistently on their achievements.