Millwood House Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at the nursery. They form strong bonds with staff, which helps them to feel safe and secure. Children's confidence levels show that they feel safe. Younger children doze contentedly on their key person's lap, and readily approach them for comfort. Children engage in the activities on offer, which often trigger their curiosity. For example, babies smile and giggle as they enjoy exploring the water. Older children delight as they experiment by pouring the water down the guttering. Staff support children well to solve problems, as they work out how to make the water flow faster.

Children develop a love for reading. Staff create ample opportunities for children to look at books. They offer them lots of praise as they try to do things for themselves, helping to build their sense of responsibility effectively. For example, tidying away their activities after using them. Staff provide opportunities to enhance babies' physical development well. Babies enjoy climbing steps to use an indoor slide and show great excitement when crawling through the tunnels outside, encouraged by staff who give them praise when they reach the other end.

Children are good communicators. They use a wide range of vocabulary and quickly learn new words. Children show positive attitudes towards their learning and behave well. They develop the necessary skills in readiness for their move on to school.

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

• Managers want the best for children, families and staff. They have developed a safe and nurturing place, where children flourish. Self-evaluation is accurate. The newly appointed manager is dedicated to continually improving the setting. The manager's capacity to continually improve and drive forward change is good.
• Children benefit from a well-thought-out curriculum provided by staff. Staff use their detailed knowledge of children to provide activities that reflect their interests and their next steps in development. However, children are not always consistently supported to learn what staff intend them to. Staff sometimes lose sight of the learning intentions of some activities and routine experiences.
• Staff undertake accurate assessments of children's learning. Overall, children make good progress. Staff work closely with other agencies. This helps children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to receive the extra support they need. They quickly begin to catch up with their peers.
• Children develop an interest in books and stories. For example, babies spontaneously crawl to reach their favourite book. They spend considerable time mimicking the faces they see. They smile and pout at the pictures of the babies.
• The most able children can recount parts of the story they have just heard and talk about the characters in the book.
• Parents comment on the friendly and caring staff. They explain their children are happy coming to nursery. Parents explain they are not yet supported as well as they could be with learning at home and how best to further support their children.
• Staff promote children's large-muscle skills very well. Children take part in football games and cheer their friends on while using the see-saw. Younger children enjoy exploring climbing small steps and clap their hands while exploring water.
• Staff state that they are happy and feel supported by the managers. They receive training and attend staff meetings. However, the monitoring and coaching of staff is not fully effective to help all staff to develop their confidence in extending children's learning to the highest level.
• Staff help children to develop good communication and language skills. They consistently model clear words and provide experiences which focus on extending vocabulary. Young children thoroughly enjoy singing and dancing to familiar nursery rhymes. Staff ask older children open questions during their play. Older children are confident to share their ideas and show pride in their achievements.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that the implementation of planned activities within the curriculum is consistently effective and that all staff understand what they want children to learn
• provide even more support to develop staff teaching skills to the highest level so all children receive consistent learning opportunities
• strengthen communication with parents to help further support children's learning at home, so children make the best possible progress.