Meadows Mere Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children display good manners and behaviour. They are happy, enjoy each other's company and play well together. Overall, they are learning to manage their own behaviour well and can successfully resolve some issues without adult support. Staff encourage children to talk about their emotions and help them to understand the impact of their behaviour on others. Furthermore, children enjoy doing things for themselves. For example, younger children wash their own plates and cups after snack and older children hang up their own coats. Staff support children's independence right from the outset, which helps to prepare them well for their next stage in learning.

Children successfully develop their communication and language skills. Staff use a range of ways, such as picture cards and visual timetables, to help children understand what is coming next. This supports children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) particularly well.

Children are learning how to keep themselves healthy. For example, they learn how to clean their teeth when the dentist visits them at the nursery. Furthermore, they spend long periods of time learning outdoors, benefiting from fresh air and exercise.

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

• Staff complete training that has a positive impact on children's learning. For instance, following training on enabling environments, staff have reduced the number of resources available at one time. This has helped to support children to independently choose what they want to play with.
• Staff plan activities that encourage children to explore and investigate. For example, children enjoy using magnifying glasses to find bugs in the garden. However, during group activities, children sometimes wander off and staff do not try to re-engage them. This means children are not always fully developing their listening and attention skills.
• Staff use observation and assessment well to monitor children's learning and development. They successfully identify any emerging gaps and swiftly refer to outside agencies. This helps children, including those with SEND, to get the extra support they need to progress.
• Staff are good role models and give consistent messages to children about their behaviour. Children understand the rules and boundaries of the nursery which they have helped to develop. As a result, children behave well and show high levels of respect. For example, they readily share resources with their peers and patiently wait for their turn.
• Staff support children well through times of change, such as when starting at the nursery and moving on to school. Settling-in and transition plans are tailored to children's individual needs, which successfully supports their emotional well-being. However, some transition times, such as getting ready to go into the garden, take too long and children become bored and restless while waiting.
• There is an effective key-person system in place. Staff form strong bonds with children and their families, which helps children to feel safe and secure. They give children lots of praise and encouragement, which builds children's confidence and self-esteem.
• The dedicated and passionate manager has a good understanding of what she wants children to learn. The curriculum is sequenced well and builds on what children already know and can do. Children are developing good early mathematical skills. For example, they learn about space and measure, saying words such as 'big' and 'small' when they use tape to section off areas in the garden.
• The manager and leadership team support staff very well. Staff attend regular supervision meetings with the manager, where they discuss workload, well-being and training needs. Furthermore, staff complete peer reviews of practice to help each other develop their knowledge and skills.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff fully involve parents in their child's learning. This includes sharing ideas and resources, such as books, to enable parents to extend children's learning at home. Parents are extremely pleased with the progress their child has made at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve group activities to ensure they meet the needs of all children and build on their listening and attention skills
• review strategies for transition times to ensure children do not wait for too long between activities.