Noah's Ark Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those new to the setting, arrive with enthusiasm. They are settled and happy. They thrive at the nursery, are motivated to learn and make very good progress from their individual starting points. All children have excellent relationships with the staff, who show genuine warmth and kindness to them. Staff are excellent role models and support children to develop confident social skills and independence. Staff help children express their feelings and calmly support children who find it challenging to regulate their behaviour. Staff foster children's self-esteem, giving high praise for their achievements. They use sand timers and gentle reminders effectively to encourage children to learn to share and take turns.

Staff instinctively challenge children to develop their language and thinking. They model the use of language and skilfully introduce new words. They ask pertinent questions to promote conversations. They provide sensitive support to help children who find verbal communication more difficult. They make excellent use of sign language and visual aids, along with ideas they gain from speech and language professionals, to support children's language development.

Full of smiles, children move freely between the carefully planned indoor and outdoor learning environments. Children relish outdoor play. They develop their physical skills and understanding of the world. Staff draw their attention to environmental sounds and encourage children to experiment and solve problems as they engage in sand play and construct with large wooden blocks.

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

• The staff are all highly enthusiastic in their roles. They work with a passion to ensure that every child achieves and enjoys their learning experiences. The provision for children's personal development is highly effective. A nurturing culture is established. Staff instinctively know when to be actively involved in children's play to extend their learning and when to stand back and let them play freely.
• Staff get to know as much as they can about each child by working closely with parents and families. They have an in-depth understanding of children's needs, interests and abilities and a very good overview of where every child is in their learning. The curriculum provides rich learning experiences and takes into account what children need to learn next. Staff instinctively offer the encouragement and support the children need to foster their all-round learning. They seek outside professional support without delay to ensure that children receive the extra help they need to aid their learning. Staff skilfully nurture children to become confident in trying new things and persevere at tasks. For example, children receive excellent support and encouragement as they learn to climb the cargo net to reach the top of the new climbing structure. Children smile with pride and cheer as they overcome their fear of climbing.
• Children learn some simple mathematical concepts. For example, staff use positional language clues such as 'under' and 'over' to help children find objects. Staff talk about shapes as children complete puzzles and connect clip-together bricks. Children are encouraged to say how many items are in their 'shop' and say '1', '2'. Staff introduce counting but do not actively challenge the most able to develop their mathematical awareness.
• Staff embed routines with children very quickly. They encourage children to make their own play choices and develop their independence skills. Children learn to sit to eat, serve themselves and clear away their cups, plates and food waste. They routinely clean their teeth after meals and are taught good hygiene practices.
• Teamwork is very evident. Staff feel well supported by the management team, which regularly holds well-being meetings and ensures that staff's voice is listened to. Staff share information about children's learning and practice ideas. The management team implements effective recruitment procedures and monitors the effectiveness of practice competently to identify ways for continuously improving the provision. Due to an oversight, the management team failed to notify Ofsted of changes to company directors within 14 days as required. When alerted to the oversight, swift action was taken to rectify the situation, and there was no negative impact on the children.
• Parents describe the staff as 'fantastic, friendly, trusted and highly supportive'. They state that the provision exceeds their expectations and that their children thoroughly enjoy attending. They feel well informed about their children's learning and appreciate opportunities to join their children in the setting at 'stay and play' sessions. Staff work closely with the centre's family support team to ensure that families get the best possible help as needed.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• create more opportunities to enhance children's mathematical awareness.