North View Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children love to spend time with the nursery staff. Wherever staff are, there is a group of children finding out about new things and being challenged to work things out for themselves. With the support of staff, pre-school children explore the texture of foam and describe how it changes when water is added. Babies investigate in the sand while staff introduce new words to them as they support their play. In the early learners' room, children use their imagination to go on a picnic or take their dolls on a walk to the play gym. Staff join in with this play at the children's request. They ask children questions such as, 'Where are we going?', 'What do we need?' and 'How will we get there?', to develop children's thinking skills and encourage them to communicate through speaking.

Children understand the well-established nursery routines. They follow simple instructions and join in when it is time to tidy up for a change of activity, for example as they get ready for lunchtime. Staff help children to understand about sharing and taking turns as they play. They explain how other children may feel if a toy is taken from them and model how to take turns when playing games, such as throwing a ball to each other. Children begin to learn how to stay safe. For example, babies learn how to use the steps on a slide and older children learn how to use cutlery safely.

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

• The manager and staff understand how young children learn and develop. They have a balanced curriculum in place with clear expectations for children's learning as they progress through the nursery. Staff use good strategies to build on what children already know and can do. For example, babies who are beginning to show signs that they are ready to crawl have time on their tummy to build up their core strength. Staff place toys just out of reach to encourage babies to reach out.
• Staff at all levels have worked hard to improve how they talk to and interact with the children. They ask thought-provoking questions and allow children time to respond to them. They set children challenges to work things out before they intervene to do things for them. For instance, when children in the pre-school room came across the problem of a piece of furniture blocking the route of their train track, they asked a staff member for help. The staff member talked to the children about the curved pieces of train track and then asked them to work together to find a solution, which they did.
• Staff encourage children to talk and share their thoughts and ideas. Staff value what children have to say. They boost children's confidence and self-esteem when they remind children about conversations or remember something that children have told them. Children beam with pride when this happens.
• Staff create an environment that is clean and safe for children to play in. However, on occasion, staff do not prepare the spaces where children are going to play in a way that fully supports learning. For example, the mud kitchen area in the garden is disorganised and does not tempt children to go and play there. Additionally, equipment for planned activities, such as a mathematical activity about selecting one plate or two pieces of fruit, is not organised in advance. This does not support staff to deliver the learning intentions of the activity and children become distracted.
• During the nursery day, staff support children's physical health and development well. Children have freshly prepared meals and snacks that are nutritionally well balanced. They enjoy the food and several children have second helpings of the main course of their lunchtime meal. Older children help themselves to drinks of water from a drinks fountain throughout the day, as they begin to understand how to respond to feeling thirsty. Staff teach children how to propel ride-on toys using their feet or pedals. Children climb, run and kick balls around with increasing skill.
• Staff know a lot about the children they care for, including their development, their family and what they do at home. They talk to the children and take on board what they are interested in, especially during the nursery day. For example, when a child discovered a spider in the bathroom, this developed into a wonderful conversation about spiders and lizards. However, staff do not use the information about children's lives away from the nursery systematically enough to be confident that they are providing children with the broadest possible range of experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• organise resources in such a way that children want to play with them and can benefit from the experience
• prepare resources that are to be used in a planned activity so that they are available to support the learning intent and children do not become distracted
• make better use of the information staff know about children's lives away from nursery to build on and broaden their experiences more effectively.