Nanny Bears Childcare Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and settled in the welcoming and nurturing environment. They develop warm and loving bonds with staff, who meet their individual needs and care routines consistently, according to parents' wishes. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They are excellent role models who treat children with respect. Children behave extremely well and learn to share, to take turns and to treat their friends with kindness. Staff support children's health and physical development well. Children enjoy lots of outdoor learning and join in action songs and yoga with great enthusiasm. Babies learn to crawl and walk safely, and staff support children to succeed with toilet training. Children enjoy healthy and nutritious meals and snacks and settle well for rests in the calm and cosy sleep space.

Staff deliver a well-thought-out curriculum to support children's developmental needs and to build on what they know and can do. This includes activities to broaden their experiences and to learn about the world. For example, children observe and learn about the sheep, reindeer and vehicles on the farm, and they grow plants and collect natural resources to create with. They learn to treat the environment responsibly, such as the importance of keeping the sea and beaches clean. Children enjoy lots of creative play. They make 'potions' with flowers and coloured water, model with dough and explore sensory materials.

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

• The well-qualified team of staff has a clear understanding of what the children need to learn next and join in their play to help them learn more. For example, children excitedly dress up as fire fighters and pretend to be fire engines using water to extinguish 'fires'. Staff discuss fire safety, help them to solve practical problems and encourage their imaginations. They count and compare quantities to enhance their mathematical development.
• Confident children talk freely and enjoy answering staff's questions. Staff encourage babies to communicate through responding to their babbles and sounds. They use focused activities to help children make better progress in their language development when they identify gaps. However, on occasions, staff do not include some quieter children in group activities to support their communication and language even further.
• Children of all ages confidently make their own choices in play. They are interested and eager to explore the exciting learning opportunities. However, occasionally, staff are not quick enough to adapt some activities to support children's interest and motivate them to explore further. For example, when activities become too crowded or are incomplete, children walk away.
• Children develop good skills to prepare them for their transition to school. From a young age, they develop excellent independence. Toddlers serve themselves at the sociable mealtimes and learn to change their clothes and wash their hands. Staff provide activities, such as activity boxes to thread materials and to use small magnets, clips and tongs, to help children develop their fine motor skills.
• Children enjoy books. Staff read to babies and children vote for popular stories for staff to read. They join in lively activities to act out stories to bring them to life and to learn new facts from reference books.
• The special educational needs coordinator and staff use their assessments of children to quickly identify any gaps in their learning. They work closely with other professionals and parents to ensure that children's additional needs are met to help them make good progress.
• The manager has a good oversight of the provision and provides strong leadership. There is a focus on professional development. Staff attend training that enhances their knowledge and skills to meet children's changing needs. Staff all have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities to protect children's welfare. Staff's well-being is nurtured, and they feel valued and supported.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents closely informed of their children's day-to-day care, progress and well-being and provide guidance to build on children's development at home. Parents share extremely positive views of their children's provision. They state, for instance, children are always safe and looked after in a 'home-from-home' way. Staff provide close support to help their children feel emotionally secure and to achieve their milestones.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's interactions to support quieter children's communication and language development even further
• develop the organisation of activities to support children's engagement and to motivate them to explore further still.