Nippers Children's Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to start their day as they arrive at this warm and welcoming nursery. They settle quickly and chat happily to their friends and staff. The key-person system is highly effective, and staff know children well. Hygiene routines are carried out sensitively and with respect. Staff have high expectations and are excellent role models. They teach children how to share and take turns. Staff are swift to intervene when children need support to manage their feelings and behaviour. They offer lots of encouragement and praise children's efforts. This helps to build children's confidence, self-esteem and resilience.

Children demonstrate positive dispositions to learning as they explore the thoughtfully planned and engaging indoor environment with enthusiasm. Older children sustain their concentration for a considerable time when playing a sound lotto game. Younger children seek help and reassurance from staff as they excitedly print with vegetables and paint. Outside, staff have carefully considered all children's needs when organising the space. They challenge children to move in different ways and to overcome obstacles. Older children learn how to manage risk safely as they jump off small platforms. They comment on how exercise makes their hearts beat faster and changes their breathing.

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

• Children's well-being is at the heart of leaders' decision-making. The highly qualified manager seeks advice from external professionals and acts on this to enrich the provision. The experienced and knowledgeable staff team shares the same vision for continuous improvement. Staff say they feel well supported by leaders. They attend training, such as basic sign language, to further enhance their skills, and this has a positive impact on practice.
• The recently reviewed curriculum is well sequenced and covers all aspects of learning. Leaders are striving to embed this throughout the nursery. Activities are matched to children's abilities and build on their interests. Accurate assessment enables staff to monitor progress and to identify any gaps in learning. These are swiftly addressed so that all children are well prepared for the next phase of their education.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are very well supported. Leaders work closely with the local authority to ensure children get the help they need. Additional funding is used well to maximise children's progress. Staff signpost parents to relevant services to help them access advice. This helps to ensure that all children make the progress of which they are capable.
• Generally, the highly skilled staff team promotes children's independence in learning well. For example, staff encourage older children to develop their problem-solving skills when constructing with cardboard boxes. However, staff do not consistently encourage children to develop independence in managing their own self-care. For instance, they do not always give children the opportunity to try and put on their coats or to wipe their own noses.
• Physical development is supported well. Younger children use different sized tools to scoop rice into pots. Older children make marks in coloured sand with chopsticks, attempting to copy the first letter of their name. This helps to develop their fine motor skills. Outside, opportunities to run, jump and balance enable all children to develop their gross motor skills.
• Interactions between staff and children are warm and responsive. Staff take the time to talk to children about their experiences outside of the nursery. This helps children to feel valued and develops their conversational skills. However, at times, staff ask children lots of questions and these are not always matched well to children's understanding. This does not help to develop their language skills effectively.
• Stories and rhymes feature prominently in daily routines. Staff read stories repeatedly so that children become immersed in storylines. Children join in with familiar phrases and enjoy using puppets to act out scenes. Older children use dramatic voices for different characters as they play cooperatively with the resources staff provide for them. This helps to promote a love of reading.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to learn about the wider world. They take children for picnics in the adjacent woodlands so that they can experience their local area. Children learn about different festivals and celebrations as staff provide food and resources for them to explore. This helps children to develop respect for others.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery and say that the staff team are amazing. They value the time that staff take to share information with them, especially those who have children with SEND. Parents are very happy with their children's progress and enjoy the activities that staff suggest to help them to support learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to provide more opportunities for children to develop their growing independence
• enhance staff's questioning techniques so that they better support children's communication and language development.