Mary Poppins Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the nursery. Attentive and friendly staff warmly welcome children. This helps them settle well. Children show good levels of confidence and have formed close relationships with all the adults who care for them. The manager and key persons work closely with families, to support new children to settle and feel secure at the nursery. Parents are extremely happy with the care their children receive. One parent commented 'My child absolutely loves attending Mary Poppins, for me that says it all.'

Staff have high expectations for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work closely with parents to assess which individual children need to make progress. They make effective referrals to other services where necessary. Children behave well throughout the day. They are kind to each other and are beginning to understand their friend's needs. Staff are on hand to support children with sharing, turn taking and other interactions. This means there are very few instances of poor behaviour. Staff are good role models and promote positive interactions between children. Children become deeply involved in their play as they independently access resources. They become confident and motivated learners, who are ready for the next stages in their learning.

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

• Leadership of the provision is strong. The experienced and well-established management team work well with the other staff. They are committed to achieving high standards and positive outcomes for all children. The manager has a clear curriculum, which staff skilfully adapt to meet the needs of individual children.
• Staff plan engaging activities to meet the needs of the children. For instance, children enjoy building houses with toy bricks, staff extend this play by showing them different houses and finding out what homes the children live in. Staff encourage children to learn mathematical concepts through their play, for example staff ask them to add two more bricks to make the wall high enough.
• The management team have a clear vision for future developments at the nursery. Supervision procedures are effective, and managers provide staff with professional opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills. However, recent monitoring of teaching has not been precise enough to identify where some staff need additional support and guidance. On occasion, staff do not provide children with further challenge to extend and maximise their learning to the highest level.
• The management team have implemented systems for communication to keep parents fully informed and involved in their child's learning. For example, parents are given a full and detailed handover at the end of each session and information is uploaded to an online system parents can access. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions prevented parents coming into the nursery for settling-in sessions or to drop off or collect their children. Currently, only new parents have opportunities to come into the nursery and settle their children. Following the lifting of these restrictions, the management has not considered opportunities to fully involve all parents in their children's learning.
• Staff provide a nurturing and sensitive approach to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff gain support and follow guidance from SEND professionals involved in the care of the children. This ensures these children have a consistent approach towards their care and learning.
• Children have plenty of opportunities to be physically active and they enjoy their time outside. The nursery menu is varied and nutritious. Children learn about good hygiene, for example they wash their hands regularly and are learning to wipe their noses independently. Staff support children to learn about good oral hygiene. For instance, children practise cleaning toy teeth using toothpaste.
• Staff promote positive behaviour well. They recognise when children need to learn what good behaviour looks like. Staff play alongside children, teaching them how to play alongside others. Children begin to learn how to share toys and take turns with others. For instance, they take turns to choose an animal as they sing 'Old McDonald's farm'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen arrangements for coaching and support, to help staff understand how to provide children with further challenge in their learning
• build upon existing parent relationships to further increase opportunities for parental involvement.