Monkey Puzzle Seer Green

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Passionate and committed leaders and staff warmly welcome children and their families into this homely and inclusive nursery. Children happily wave goodbye to their parents before settling into an activity of their choice. Staff gather details about children's likes, dislikes and home routines, which enables them to understand individual interests, unique personalities and how best to care for them. Building strong, trusted relationships with children and their families is a notable strength. Attentive staff offer reassuring hugs and gentle words to the youngest children, while older ones confidently talk to new visitors about their experiences and politely ask their names. This consistent, nurturing approach helps children feel safe and develop a true sense of belonging.

Staff provide a wide range of meaningful opportunities to spark curiosity and motivate children to take part. For example, older babies crawl up an indoor gym and whizz down the ramp. Toddlers make pretend ice creams from foam and pre-school children build tall towers and attempt to count the bricks. Throughout such moments, staff skilfully introduce new vocabulary and encourage children to apply these words in context.

Consistent and clear expectations guide children's good behaviour. When occasional unwanted behaviour occurs, staff respond with patience and explain why it is unacceptable. Across the nursery, children follow staff's positive role modelling and show respect for others. They encourage their friends to join in and learn to take turns. Staff readily praise children's efforts and achievements, which helps boost children's self-esteem and confidence.

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

• Leaders, alongside company advisers, work tirelessly to devise rigorous action plans to drive forward improvements. They show a clear vision for growth and fostering an environment that prioritises high-quality learning experiences. For example, leaders recognise the limitations of the nursery garden and ensure staff take children to the local park to access larger equipment to develop their gross motor skills further, such as their balance, stamina and coordination.
• Leaders create a sequenced and ambitious curriculum for all children. They have good knowledge of what they want children to learn before moving to school. Staff use ongoing observations and assessments to monitor children's progress and identify next steps in their development. However, leaders have yet to ensure that all staff have a secure enough understanding of the curriculum intentions. Some staff do not always implement the curriculum in a step-by-step way that precisely builds on each child's existing knowledge and skills. As a result, there are occasional inconsistencies where individual children's learning is not fully maximised.
• Developing children's language and communication skills are given a high priority. Visual prompts, photographs of past experiences and real-life objects help strengthen speech, particularly for younger children and those with additional needs. Staff foster a love for reading through engaging story times, with children eagerly choosing more books for staff to read. Children delight in listening and sharing what they remember. This helps to widen their vocabulary.
• Children benefit from real-life visits from people in different professions, such as firefighters, doctors and dentists. These experiences inspire imaginative play and spark aspirations for children's future roles. In addition, staff actively value and promote inclusiveness in age-appropriate ways, helping children see themselves represented and recognise what makes them unique. Staff ask parents about any cultural events they celebrate and thoughtfully weave these into their planning. In this way, children learn to compare similarities and differences between their way of life and those of others, which helps prepare them to appreciate the diverse world we live in.
• In the main, staff support children to do things for themselves to promote independence, such as making their own decisions by choosing their own activities. They provide encouragement and guidance to help children build confidence in daily tasks. However, at times, staff step in too quickly and do things for children that they could easily manage on their own or be encouraged to try. For example, on occasion, they swiftly wipe children's noses or serve food from larger dishes into their individual plates. This does not consistently support children to practise or fully develop their self-care skills.
• Parents provide glowing feedback about the education and care their children receive. They feel involved and fully informed about their children's development and progress through the online application, daily face-to-face conversations and termly progress reviews. Parents see their children making good progress, particularly in their speech, confidence and when making new friendships.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen all staff's understanding of the curriculum intent to ensure their teaching is consistently focused on taking each child's learning to the next level
• support staff to consistently promote children's independence and extend opportunities for developing their self-care skills.