Nursery on the Green (Redbourn)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children learn, play and explore in the nursery, enthusiastically. They make choices for themselves confidently, such as deciding when they would like to go outside or what activities and resources they would like to investigate. This contributes to children's ability to express their individuality.

Children welcome the support and guidance offered by staff. They ask questions to help them make sense of the world around them and listen carefully to the answers and explanations staff give them. This helps children gather new facts and information to help them build on what they already know and understand. Children are encouraged to communicate their thoughts and feelings. They build their vocabularies effectively, following the examples and encouragement offered by staff.

Children spend time following their own interests. Staff watch before adding ideas and challenges to expand on children's experiences. For example, children are supported to find the right screwdriver they need to carefully remove the back from a musical box to see how it works. Under the guidance and supervision of staff, children learn how to manage risks, such as safely using tools in a designated area of the nursery. This contributes to children's growing awareness of what they need to think about to help keep themselves and others safe.

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

• The manager has high expectations of the staff and children at the nursery. The provider allows the manager to have the autonomy she requires to enable children in the nursery to build on the experiences they bring from home. This contributes to the good progress children make.
• Detailed information gathered from parents helps staff to support children right from the start. Babies follow similar daily routines to those they have at home. This helps them settle quickly. The nurturing staff are sensitive to babies' needs. When they first wake, staff cuddle them. Babies move away when they are ready. This contributes to the calm environment in which babies explore.
• Children are proud when staff praise them for their good behaviour and positive attitudes towards others. When there are minor disputes, staff gently remind children to take turns and to be kind. This contributes to children's growing ability to regulate their own behaviours and emotions. Children know where quiet spaces exist, allowing them to take time away from the sometimes busy areas in the group rooms.
• Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported by their key person and other staff. Parents teach staff how to pronounce keywords in the languages spoken at home to help communication from the start.
• Consideration is made by staff to incorporate all languages used by families in their homes, including sign language.
• The manager and her team welcome support from professionals outside of the setting. This includes those who offer support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This contributes to the strong partnerships that focus on the needs of individual children.
• Parents comment positively about the good communication they have with staff. Information about children's progress and care are given regularly. The manager ensures staff share a wide range of resources appropriately, such as books and information. These cover different aspects of development that can be challenging for some children and parents, such as toilet training. This contributes to the continuity of support children receive from nursery and home.
• Children create positive and memorable experiences while they play and explore. They hold umbrellas above their heads and wait their turn for staff to scoop water on them. They watch the water drip from the umbrellas to see where it goes. However, there are times when the enthusiastic staff step in quickly to assist children to complete tasks or tell them what will happen next. This compromises the amount of time children have to think for themselves.
• The activities and interactions shared by staff and children effectively reflect the focused curriculum planned by the manager and senior staff. However, support for staff to adapt spontaneous teaching is not yet fully embedded. For example, meaningful challenges in areas, such as mathematics, are sometimes overlooked in the Butterfly room.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children more time to solve problems, predict outcomes and practise new skills for themselves
• continue to fully embed a broad curriculum that staff can spontaneously adapt to suit all aspects of learning.