Nursery Rhymes (Huddersfield LTD)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to attend this friendly, welcoming setting, where they are greeted affectionately by staff. They are happy, confident and ready to learn. Children have good relationships with staff and their peers. They are easily settled and benefit from a familiar routine. Children are engaged in activities which promote their learning and follow their current interests. For example, two-year-olds work on strengthening the muscles in their fingers to prepare them for early mark making. They use 'squirty' bottles to wash cars in a pretend car wash.

Children enjoy playing in the well-thought-out outdoor area on a daily basis in all weathers. They have opportunities to build strength on the climbing frame and slide, and improve their balance on obstacle courses. Children learn about growth and decay in the woodland area where they grow vegetables and fruits. They observe how the trees change throughout the seasons. Babies have their own outdoor area which is undercover and gives them the opportunity to explore freely. Children behave well. Staff have clear expectations of children's behaviour, which they remind children of. Children respond well to a five-minute warning that an activity is about to end. Staff are patient and wait for children to respond. For example, they give older children time to follow their requests to sit on the carpet for story time.

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

• Babies thrive in this calm and nurturing environment. They are confident and show a strong attachment to their key person. For example, when babies crawl towards an unfamiliar adult in the room, they turn back to check with their key person, before continuing to approach the adult.
• Children enjoy a range of healthy and nutritious meals. The cook caters well for children with different dietary requirements. Staff talk to children about healthy food at mealtimes and extend children's language by introducing words such as 'protein' and 'carbohydrates'.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who speak English as an additional language effectively. They know children well and have a clear understanding of how they can support them further. For instance, staff show children visual prompts to help them to manage their expectations of what is about to happen next.
• Children develop their independence skills. Babies try to wash their own hands and attempt to feed themselves. Two-year-old children attempt to take off their own coats and pour their own drinks. Older children are well supervised in the woodwork area, where they have the opportunity to take part in risky play using real tools.
• Managers work with staff to help them to develop their knowledge and expertise. Staff receive focused professional development and this helps to ensure that their knowledge and skills continue to improve. Staff feel supported by managers.
• Managers have a clear ambitious curriculum in place, but this is not fully embedded throughout the nursery. While most staff members understand how the curriculum is implemented, not all staff understand the intent of the curriculum. For example, not all staff are aware of what they would like children to achieve by the time they leave nursery to start school.
• Staff use additional funding effectively. For example, funding for children with SEND is used to provide additional staff to support children where required. Staff use early years pupil premium funding to support the areas that they feel children need more support in due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, they have arranged for a drama group to work with children.
• Overall, staff plan meaningful activities to deepen and build on children's knowledge further. However, on occasions, some staff do not always engage in quality interactions in order to extend children's learning in mathematics.
• Parents praise staff for their friendly approach and excellent communication. They comment that the nursery is flexible and allows for settling-in sessions that suit each individual child. Parents feel supported and well informed on their children's progress.
• Staff go out of their way to support children and their families. They have a good partnership with a range of professionals. This helps staff to provide the necessary support to families of children with SEND. The nursery provides stay- and-play sessions specifically for these families so that they can gain support and discuss experiences with other families, as well as professionals.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to have a deeper knowledge of the curriculum intent throughout the setting
• provide consistent and quality interactions in order to extend children's learning in mathematics.