Muddy Boots Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at the nursery, where they have access to a wide range of stimulating resources and activities both indoors and outdoors. As a result, they spend periods of time immersed in learning during adult-led and child-initiated activities. Children of all ages watch with awe and wonder as they help to release butterflies they have watched develop from caterpillars. They learn how to handle butterflies with care, as they gently release butterflies from their hands and talk about how they feel.

Children enjoy a wide range of creative activities, which helps to support their fine-motor development for future writing skills. For example, they concentrate and show high levels of interest as they dip string into coloured paint they have mixed. They make patterns on paper, displaying their own interpretation of a worm.

Children form secure attachments with staff, who are caring, attentive and genuinely value what children have to say. Children behave well. They enjoy playing together and alongside each other and understand the importance of sharing and taking turns. Babies are provided with lots of close eye contact and cuddles. Their individual routines at home are followed closely within the nursery to help them feel safe and secure. Staff provide a range of interesting activities to help them learn about the world around them. This includes recent Eid celebrations, which helps them to celebrate the nursery's cultural diversity.

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

• The leadership team are very reflective and are committed towards ensuring that all children have the best start in life possible. They meet with the wider staff team on a weekly basis to review the curriculum and how they can enhance the provision for children. All staff have an input. In addition, staff have the opportunity to meet with leaders on a one-to-one basis to discuss their own practice and well-being.
• Staff monitor children's development closely and share information about their key children across the team to ensure continuity of learning. All staff clearly know children in their care and what they need to do next to move on in their development. They plan a wide range of interesting and meaningful activities to support children's development. However, during times of transition, such as snack and lunchtime, children are less engaged in meaningful learning.
• Children's speech development is well supported. Staff interact with children as they engage in activities and ask lots of questions, allowing them time to think, respond and recall what they have previously learned. For example, children predict what will happen when they mix different coloured paint. However, at times staff do not consider asking children open questions to allow them the opportunity to fully express themselves. There are also times when staff do not ensure that children, who are less confident or reluctant to speak, have the same opportunities to express themselves during group activities.
• Staff support children to foster their own creativity through a wide range of activities. This helps to develop their fine-motor skills and is clearly something children of all ages take a strong interest in. They use a variety of resources to make their own 'lovebugs', using sticky tape or glue to stick their wings onto cork. They use scissors, paint and pens during a junk modelling activity to create their own interpretations of insects.
• There are a wide range of books available to children indoors and outdoors to help foster their enjoyment of reading. Reference books are placed alongside themed activities for children to browse and develop their literacy skills. Children enjoy reading stories with staff and talking about what they see in the pictures.
• Staff positively support children to understand expectations for behaviour. As a result, children follow instruction well. For example, they line up together patiently as they wash their hands before snack time. They eagerly help to tidy away toys. Staff recognise positive behaviour and praise children when they put their chair under the table after eating.
• Children have ample opportunities to learn about how to keep themselves healthy. They demonstrate in detail how to wash their hands thoroughly and speak about why it is important to wash their hands. Children eat a wide range of healthy and freshly prepared snacks and meals.
• Parents are very positive about the nursery. They feel staff are warm and caring to their children and provide lots of interesting activities for them. Parents feel well informed about the progress their children make in their learning. Staff provide a detailed handover to parents about their child's day during collection time.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance support provided to staff to help them develop how they support children's speech and language skills, so that all children, including those less confident to speak, have more opportunities to express themselves
• review transition times, in particular around snack times and lunchtimes, to ensure that children are consistently engaged in meaningful and purposeful learning.