Mary Poppins Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the setting with enthusiasm and settle quickly. They behave well and are eager to learn. For example, children relish playing outside and are keen to explore the winter weather. Toddlers develop a sense of wonder as together with staff they stamp through the fresh snow, laughing as they make patterns with their boot prints. Pre-school children explore where the frost has been as they use binoculars to see the icy patterns on the walls which 'sparkle'. Children enjoy jumping, running and stretching on the spot outdoors. This leads to new learning as children talk with staff about how to keep their bodies fit and warm.

Children have many opportunities to develop their early mathematical skills. Older babies play with shape sorters and are encouraged by staff to find the matching shape. Staff and toddlers count milk bottle tops as they post them down a tube, where children delight in seeing the same number shoot out from the other end. Pre-school children pretend to follow a recipe and weigh out ingredients that they then mix in a bowl. They are supported by staff, who stretch children's understanding by encouraging them to estimate what items may be 'lighter' or 'heavier' on the scales. Children are keen to share their answers and staff acknowledge them for trying. This helps develop their self-esteem.

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

• Staff model language and engage children well in conversations. They use the daily story time to introduce children to new vocabulary and texts. Children are eager to guess what the story is about based on the title and cover of the book. Staff use effective questioning techniques which support children to predict what will happen next, by taking clues from the illustrations. Staff act out words such as 'wide' and 'tall' to support children's learning and help them widen their vocabulary.
• Staff interact well with pre-school children to encourage them to test out ideas and build on their problem-solving skills. For example, when children are building sandcastles, staff encourage them to suggest ideas that would prevent the castles from collapsing. Children experiment with sand and water, and persevere until the castles are 'strong' and 'firm'.
• Staff help children to understand how to be independent. For example, most of the time, children manage their own self-care needs and help themselves to their meal at lunchtime. However, on occasions, some staff can be overly helpful. They do not always provide children with the chance to try to put on their own coats, take their own shoes off or wipe their own faces after mealtimes. This means children do not get the chance to develop their independence skills further.
• Babies and children have warm and secure attachments to their key person and other staff in the setting. Babies and toddlers happily receive cuddles. Pre-school children are observed to be kind and remind other children to use tissues if they sneeze, how to handle cutlery safely and help to find where their coat pegs are.
• The quality of staff teaching is good overall. Some staff are exceptionally good in their interactions with children and successfully engage and extend on their learning. However, there are inconsistencies, in particular with older babies during busy times. Although staff know what they want children to learn and develop, they are not always responsive enough. As a result, some older babies do not always fully engage with all that there is on offer.
• Leaders and managers are fully committed to embedding good-quality care and education for all children. Leaders undertake regular one-to-one meetings and appraisals with staff. They discuss targets for key children and review the curriculum. In addition, the nursery manager monitors practice by undertaking observations of all staff, which identifies further changes to improve outcomes for children. Together, they evaluate teaching practice and staff know how they can further improve.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to embed children's growing independence skills within routine activities
• support staff to raise all their interactions with children to a consistently high level.