Merry-Go-Round

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive enthusiastically, ready to play and learn. They quickly become engaged in their chosen activities. Children demonstrate a positive engagement and attitude towards learning. They gain a range of skills and attitudes necessary for their next stage of learning, including school. Children show high levels of confidence and maturity in being assertive in appropriate situations. For example, children say, 'it's my turn' when someone tries to join their game and take their place. Children learn about the wider world as they enthusiastically join in cooking activities that feature foods from different cultures. They use toys and resources and enjoy activities that reflect the ethnic diversity within the nursery.

Children form strong relationships with the caring staff. They behave well. Children are kind and look out for each other. For example, a child offers to help their friend to find a resource. They demonstrate their developing independence as they take responsibility for their own coat and bag when they arrive at the nursery. Children demonstrate their knowledge of the benefits of healthy eating as they discuss the 'yummy' bananas and grapes at snack time. They talk about why they clean their teeth each day.

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

• Staff have a consistent and calm approach. Children's behaviour is managed well.
• Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve. They make regular observations and assessments of children's individual learning. Staff have a clear intent about what they want each child to learn next. However, they do not always utilise opportunities to explain to children the consequence of potentially unsafe play or offer children solutions.
• Staff provide many opportunities for children to learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and others. For example, during story time, children enjoy stories that include same-gender partners and gender-free superheroes.
• There is a strong focus on promoting children's language skills within the nursery. Staff teach children to use new words in context, such as 'hydraulic' and 'rotate'. They help children to build sentences and pronounce words correctly. Children who need additional help with speech and language, including those children learning to speak English as an additional language, make very good progress.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is a strength of the nursery. Staff incorporate advice from specialist professionals into children's individual learning plans.
• Staff promote children's early reading skills. They ask questions to encourage the children to use their thinking skills. Children learn to recognise and write letters in their name.
• Children have plenty of opportunities to be physically active indoors and outside. Staff support children to confidently manage their own risks as they use challenging climbing equipment. Children have great fun as they whizz around using a variety of wheeled toys.
• Parents speak highly of the staff. Staff provide parents with regular information regarding children's achievements during their time at the nursery. However, staff do not provide enough opportunities for parents to share ongoing information about their children's development at home, to enable them to be more involved in children's learning.
• The manager monitors the curriculum and children's learning effectively and provides swift intervention when children need extra help. She ensures staff receive ongoing training that is relevant to the needs of those children who attend. The quality of teaching is monitored through regular peer reviews.
• The well-being of the staff is very important to the management team. For example, they have reviewed the way staff monitor children's progress so that staff spend less time completing paperwork. This helps to ensure staff workload is manageable and allows them more time to interact with the children.
• Regular evaluation of the nursery takes account of the views of children, parents and staff. Managers have identified the outside area can be further enhanced. They intend to introduce an area to grow vegetables to support children to develop an understanding of nature and how things grow over time.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support children with greater consistency to gain an understanding of the consequence of potentially unsafe actions during play
• enhance practice for encouraging all parents to share information about their children's achievements at home.