Northover Fruit Tree Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff have high expectations for children. They provide an environment that is calm, safe and enticing, which benefits children's confidence and enhances their positive attitude to explore and learn. For example, babies excitedly play and explore in the water, splashing and finding out what they can do. Those who are learning to walk happily toddle around, while others crawl confidently as they move around outside. Toddlers sit at the lunch table and confidently feed themselves and scrape their plates after. Older children interact with each other very well. They listen to each other and form very positive relationships with their peers. Children demonstrate highly effective self-help skills and behave well.

Children happily participate in activities such as writing, drawing and using scissors. They delight in outdoor play, having lots of space to run, jump, climb and join in with pretend play. They are inquisitive, and staff support them well to follow their own interests and ideas. For instance, staff provide resources that allow children to extend their role play. Staff use a rich range of language during their interactions. Older children use effective mathematical skills, such as identifying numbers. They explain that they are sharing their cake into three so everyone will have some.

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

• Staff are very committed to providing children with fun learning experiences. The team works well together and constantly reflects on children's learning to enhance the curriculum. For example, staff identify the needs of children as individuals and a group. They plan the environment to help support children to develop the skills they need to learn. The manager ensures that staff receive training to constantly develop their knowledge and skills to help provide a tailored educational programme. All children, including babies, make good progress for their future learning and school.
• Staff support children's literacy and communication skills well. Children enjoy looking at books by themselves and in small groups. Older children learn to write their names and confidently ask staff to spell out words for them to write. Staff add words to babies' babbles and name items they play with.
• Children learn about each other's cultures and backgrounds, which supports their understanding of others. Staff provide resources, displays and activities that reflect children's experiences and important events in their lives and the community. This helps all children to develop high levels of self-esteem and respect for others.
• Staff know their key children well. They identify any developmental needs quickly and seek additional support. For example, there are effective systems in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities
• (SEND). Any additional funding is used to ensure that the environment, resources and one-to-one support are in place and safe. Staff who work with children with SEND have a deep understanding of children's individual needs and support them well.
• In general, the routines and activities are well organised to support children's care and learning. However, staff do not always consider children's individual abilities when organising large-group activities, such as circle times. These activities are too long and, as a result, some children quickly lose focus, which does not benefit their learning as much as possible.
• Children are supported to be active, such as using different apparatus. They enjoy nutritious meals and learn about the importance of good oral hygiene. This helps them to adopt healthy habits. However, lunchtime for toddlers is not very well organised. Staff take a while to serve children their lunch and do not sit with them and eat. Hence, this activity does not promote a good social experience for children.
• Staff develop strong partnership with parents. For example, they share information about children and work effectively with parents to promote children's learning at home. Parents speak very highly of the staff. They say that their children love attending and make good progress. However, partnership with other early years settings that children also attend is not effective to provide a coordinated approach with everyone involved in supporting children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of large-group times for the toddlers and pre-school children to better support their focus and engagement during these times
• provide support for staff to help them develop more effective lunchtime routines for toddlers to help promote children's social skills and enhance their learning
• develop partnership with other early years settings that children also attend to help provide consistency in their learning and development.