Meadowfield Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and safe in this welcoming setting. Staff are friendly and professional. Children attend settling-in sessions before they start, and staff gather information from parents, including on what children like to do. As a result, children settle quickly. Children form good bonds with all staff and they are attentive to children's personal care needs. Staff have high expectations for each child. They plan a range of activities with children's individual interests in mind. This ensures that children make good progress.

There is a strong focus on developing children's mathematical skills. Staff challenge children to think critically. They use a range of mathematical terms that are suitable for children's stage of development. For examples, staff discuss how tall towers of bricks are and when something might be heavy. They further support children's understanding of weight by using a set of weighing scales to weigh pine cones. This supports children's understanding of early mathematical concepts.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the management team went out of their way to keep in touch with children and families who were unable to attend the setting. They sent home activity suggestions, to support parents with ideas of what they could do at home to continue children's learning.

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

• Staff support children's communication and language skills effectively. Within play, staff extend on what children are discussing. For example, when children are talking about fish, a member of staff extends on this by labelling parts, such as the 'dorsal fin'. In the sand pit, children discuss how dinosaurs have evolved into birds and how they need to 'excavate' fossils.
• Overall, staff support children's learning and development well. They plan a range of activities to ensure there is a variety of child-led and adult-led activities. Staff skilfully adjust activities to consider the varying abilities of children taking part. Activities are planned to support children's varying interests which helps them to become deeply engaged. However, sometimes activities are not sufficiently focused on what children already know and can do to move their learning forward to the highest level.
• Children behave well and staff have consistent expectations. On the odd occasion when children do something which is not in line with the high behavioural expectations, staff respond well. They carefully explain what they would like children to do. For instance, they clearly ask children to stop kicking bricks, and instead, explain to them what they can do with them, such as build a tower.
• On the whole, children's independence skills are well supported. For example, they wash their hands before meals and snacks and put on their own coats and shoes. Staff are on hand to support them where necessary. Children sit as a group at snack time and help themselves to fruit. However, this approach is inconsistent, as children do not have the same opportunities to help themselves at lunchtime. This means that opportunities to develop children's independence skills even further are missed.
• Children are well supported when they are due to start school. During the summer term, teachers are invited into the nursery. They provide a school uniform and photos of the classrooms for children to look at. This supports children in the transition to school.
• Parents are extremely happy with the quality of care and education provided. They particularly like the information they receive in the 'Yellow Book', which provides parents with ideas of what they can do at home to extend children's learning further. Parents are invited to share pictures from home with the nursery. The nursery uses these pictures to have discussions with children, which helps develop a real sense of belonging.
• The nursery successfully works in partnership with a range of external agencies and professionals, to ensure that any additional support needed for children is in place. Additional funding is used effectively to ensure that all children are able to access the provision. As a result, all children make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the planning of activities to ensure they build more clearly on what children already know and can do
• extend opportunities for children to practise their independence skills and make choices for themselves.