Melrose Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children form close and loving bonds with staff who know them well and meet their needs and routines with care. Babies cuddle staff with great affection, and older children involve staff in their play in which they laugh and share jokes with them. Children behave very well. They are kind and caring, learn to share with others and have good manners. Staff are positive role models who treat children with respect and help them to learn good social skills and how to keep themselves and others safe in play.

Children benefit from a broad and exciting curriculum to support their learning and interests. This includes a wealth of interesting activities to enhance their experiences. Children explore the natural environment on walks, learn about the life cycles of creatures and enjoy physical challenges in the expansive garden. Children confidently explore and lead their own play freely. For example, babies move around choosing sensory toys to investigate, make pretend food with dough in the play kitchen and enjoy learning about animal names and sounds. Older children find materials to make their own designs, create imaginative games to play out their life experiences and enjoy books. They tell staff that nursery is 'amazing'.

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

• Staff are clear what they intend children to learn next and help them to build further on their learning. They skilfully use spontaneous moments and children's curiosity to motivate them to learn more. For example, when children show an interest in the seeds they planted recently, staff encourage them to create flowerpots from the craft materials. Children engage for long periods, enjoying challenges to solve problems and persevere to achieve their ideas.
• Staff help children to become ready for starting school. Children of all ages develop very good independence from a young age. They learn to manage their clothing, to wash their hands and to serve themselves at meals. Older children learn the sounds of letters and how to write their names when ready.
• Staff encourage babies as they babble, verbalising their communications and helping them to learn their first words, such as with songs and stories. Older children develop a rich vocabulary as they learn lots of new words, such as the parts of a leaf, the life cycle stages of butterflies and unusual colour shades they mix. Staff revisit the words to help children use and understand their meaning fully.
• Staff ask children questions to encourage them to think and share what they know. However, at times, some quieter children do not have time to think and answer questions when more confident children lead discussions.
• Children learn about mathematical concepts. Staff count with younger children in songs and stories to introduce number language. Older children learn about size.
• For example, they enjoy measuring their construction models. Staff encourage this interest, resulting in children excitedly measuring adults and one another to compare lengths and height. This builds further on children's mathematical development.
• The management team has a very good oversight of the nursery. They value staff and include them in their vision of developing the quality of the provision even further. They encourage staff development and training to build on their knowledge and skills. This has helped staff to contribute to making positive changes, such as heightening hygiene standards through implementing shoe-free indoor spaces.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They state, for example, their children love attending and staff personalise children's development according to their interests to make learning fun. Staff support parents in helping their children to achieve milestones at home.
• Staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities and the procedures to follow in the event of any concerns about a child in their care. They maintain high standards of safety throughout the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide quieter children with more time and opportunity to answer questions to develop their communication and thinking even further.