New Era Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children at this pre-school are happy, confident and well supported in their learning and development. They are warmly greeted by leaders and staff on arrival, self-register and quickly settle into engaging play opportunities. Parents have daily conversations with their child's key person and use this time to share important information about their child's needs. This enables staff to understand each child and adapt their approach when required. Children learn to concentrate, explore new skills and make meaningful progress across all areas of learning, while developing social skills and confidence in themselves.

Children behave well. They have good role models in the staff, who provide calm guidance and clear expectations. For example, staff support children to walk safely up and down the stairs between indoor and outdoor play. Staff work closely with parents to support children during settling-in sessions. This helps children to develop self-control and follow the pre-school's routines, enabling them to participate safely and successfully in daily activities.

Leaders are ambitious for all children to develop across the areas of learning, and there is strong support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders aim for children to develop their independence and be ready for the next stage in their learning.

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

• Leaders and staff provide engaging, rich and meaningful activities. For example, children are supported to write their names in the sand and explore imaginative play in the role-play area. However, curriculum sequencing could be strengthened to ensure that children's skills and knowledge consistently build over time.
• Staff know their children well and provide activities based on their interests. Outdoors, children engage in digging in mud to find objects, use stepping stones and ride bikes. As a result, children develop their coordination, confidence and problem-solving abilities while exploring and learning through play.
• Leaders and staff place a strong focus on developing children's communication and language skills. For example, they narrate play and use early assessment tools to identify children who need extra support. They work closely with the speech and language therapists and educational psychologists to put appropriate strategies and support in place. This helps children gain confidence, make rapid progress in their speech and use language to extend their play.
• Leaders and staff make excellent use of early assessment tools to identify children's individual needs. They work closely with external professionals, such as local authority advisers, to put appropriate support in place. As a result, children receive targeted interventions promptly and make rapid progress in their learning and development, particularly in areas such as communication, social skills and confidence.
• Leaders and staff support children's independence through daily routines. Children self-register at snack time, pour their own drinks and brush their teeth independently. Children gain life skills in self-care.
• Parents report that they are happy with the pre-school. They appreciate how well staff know their children's individual needs and welcome daily updates on progress. They also recognise the support the pre-school provides, including working with external agencies such as speech and language therapists. They say that children make good progress and benefit from consistent care that meets their individual needs.
• Leaders and staff know their families and community exceptionally well. They direct families to services when required. They also use additional funding well to support families. For example, the pre-school organises family-focused activities and days out. Children benefit from enhanced well-being, stronger relationships at home and increased confidence.
• Leaders are reflective and committed to staff's professional development. They have recently introduced an online training platform. However, the system for identifying staff's training needs is not yet fully established, so training is not always precisely targeted to enhance the quality of provision further.
• Leaders place a strong emphasis on staff's well-being. They provide flexibility and support during personal challenges, creating a positive and caring working environment. As a result, staff feel valued and motivated, which contributes to exceptional staff retention. Many staff have worked at the pre-school for several years. Therefore, children and families receive consistency and stability.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to develop a well-sequenced curriculum to ensure a more coherent and progressive development of children's skills and knowledge
• ensure peer observations of staff are used to inform targeted professional development, so that staff training is closely aligned with the individual needs of children and the priorities of the setting.