N Family Club Stratford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and are greeted by warm and welcoming staff at this nursery. They show they feel safe and secure as they quickly settle to start their day. The leader's curriculum is broad and very well balanced. Staff plan activities that are engaging and child-centred. For example, children giggle with excitement as they explore brightly coloured foam. They enjoy being creative as they stick natural resources on cards during collage craft making. Children enjoy going on regular walks to explore places in the local community.

Staff have high expectations for children's early language and literacy skills. Babies confidently move from babbling to saying words. Older children learn to recognise letters, their names and sounds in words.

Children behave well at the nursery. Staff sensitively intervene when children are in the earlier stages of learning the boundaries. They give children age-appropriate explanations for why some behaviour is undesirable. Children learn to treat the toys well. They have close relationships with the adults. Overall, staff promote most aspects of children's independence well. For example, children self-register and put away their belongings as they arrive. They learn to confidently manage their own toileting and hygiene needs.

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

• Across the nursery, staff promote children's communication very well. Staff consistently model how to say words and phrases as they play with children. They describe children's actions and use signing as they emphasise key vocabulary. Babies confidently respond to their key persons using single words and signing. Staff make good use of resources as they play with children. Children repeat new words they hear and speak confidently using correct sentence structure.
• Children build a good knowledge of familiar stories and their events. They listen attentively as staff read to them. Staff provide good opportunities for children to revisit books and re-enact their events. Children engage well as staff retell stories to them. They actively participate using props, puppets and small-world resources.
• Children build good physical skills as they play. They develop strong hand muscles from scissor-cutting activities, tracing shapes and mark making with chalks. Children enjoy exploring what their bodies can do as they dance, stretch and join in with action songs.
• Staff are patient and nurturing towards children. They listen to children and promote their understanding about different feelings. Children copy staff actions. For example, children who prefer not to nap help staff soothe their friends to sleep at rest times. They show they regard the needs of others by calmly playing in the room.
• Staff promote children's early mathematics skills. Children enjoy learning to count and represent quantities as they sing action songs. Children learn about capacity during water play involving pouring and filling. Older children have opportunities to become familiar with measuring and time.
• Children show they are keen to learn. They concentrate well and remain absorbed in their play. For example, younger children spend time painting with their hands. They sit and focus well during small-group activities. Children are confident to show models they make to adults.
• Parents describe staff as attentive and supportive. They feel they receive good written information about their children's progress and development.
• Overall, staff promote children's self-help skills such as dressing and eating by themselves well. However, at times, the deployment of less-experienced staff means some children's awareness of how to care for themselves is not consistently supported. During the inspection, supervised children accessed outdoor play in inappropriate clothing. They splashed in puddles and did not realise when they were getting soaked.
• Since the previous inspection, leaders have committed to implementing an action plan to secure continuous improvement. They have ensured staff receive training that has raised the quality of much of the teaching and interactions. Leaders provide ongoing support for the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), who is new to her role. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive support to reach their identified targets.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the deployment of staff, particularly those who are less experienced, so children's self-help skills are consistently promoted wherever they play
• continue implementing the devised action plan and support for staff so the quality of staff's teaching and practice is consistently high across the provision.