My First Friends Droitwich Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children who attend this nursery are exceptionally well cared for, and all children are extremely confident and self-assured. They respond appropriately to each other and adults, and show respect towards them. The highly skilled support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is exemplary.

Children learn to keep themselves safe as they are encouraged to take part in 'risky play' through the wide ranging activities on offer. Children are enthusiastic in their learning and show enjoyment and delight when they discover something new. All staff encourage children to use real-life resources, such as real knives and forks. This enables children to achieve more, such as succeeding at cutting a raw carrot for the first time. Independence is encouraged across the nursery, enhancing all aspects of the curriculum. Children independently access tools and materials when creating their pets from play dough, which enables them to develop their own ideas.

Inside the nursery, rooms are vibrant and support the learning on offer. The outdoor environment is stimulating and promotes children's physical and imaginative play in a rich and varied way. For example, children access areas for gardening, climbing, mud play, climbing trees and risky play through playing on the beech tree swing.

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

• The nursery benefits from an experienced and inspirational manager, who is supported by a wider management team. They are committed to ensuring that children receive the very best care and education. They actively support one another to ensure it is a team effort. The team of staff are dynamic and have a wealth of experience. A vast amount of training is offered to all staff, which enables them to feel valued and supports them to continue to develop their already excellent practice.
• Support for children with SEND is remarkable and is a real strength of the nursery. Leaders and the special needs coordinator work alongside staff and outside agencies to ensure that children receive the very best support. They swiftly identify any concerns and emerging needs, and involve parents from the start. This ensures that children and their families get the right support as soon as possible. The nursery provides targeted one-to-one support or specialist equipment, where needed, to ensure that all children are fully included. Visual prompts are used throughout the nursery to enrich children's communication and support them as they move from room to room.
• Room leaders plan a range of exciting activities based on the interests of the children. They skilfully link the learning from session to session to enhance and extend children's knowledge and embed what they already know. For example, a session that embeds children's understanding of shapes and drawing shapes is cleverly linked to a further session where children use a pencil to draw the shapes. This builds on prior knowledge and also supports children's growing pencil skills in readiness for school and early writing. Children have recently been involved in hatching ducks. They learn to care for the ducks and are enthralled as they watch them swim in a bowl of water.
• The link between home and school is exceptionally strong. The use of a nursery teddy bear bridges home and nursery to share special moments. This successfully brings children's home experiences into the nursery and the bear's diary is used in small group sessions to help children remember what they have already experienced and learned.
• Communication and language are a top priority. There is a clear plan from room to room that outlines the intent for communication and language for all ages of children. This, alongside clear next steps for each child, ensures that children's individual needs are met. A school council is in place for pre-school children to ensure they have voice and can make decisions about their learning and play.
• Pupil premium funding allows all pre-school children to access a visiting sports coach to experience high-quality games and physical activities. The inclusion of children with SEND in the sports activities is exemplary.
• Parent partnership is extremely strong and managers and staff forge strong relationships with parents. They work closely with them and share information with them in a variety of ways. Parents unanimously sing the praises of the nursery, saying they are 'like one of the family', that their children are in 'a safe pair of hands' and that staff provide the 'best care, making it a home from home'. Parents suggest that children are happy because 'every achievement is celebrated, no matter how small' and say that staff 'give love because it is not just a job, they live and breathe the children'.