Nurture Nest Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel safe and comfortable at this welcoming and inclusive nursery. Staff are highly nurturing and attentive to children's individual needs. They get to know children and their families extremely well and are sensitive to children's previous experiences. This supports children to quickly settle and form close attachments with their key person. Younger children happily babble and are confident to explore their surroundings. Older children play alongside one another and enjoy making choices during their play.

Staff have clear expectations for all children. They encourage them to be kind and learn to take turns from an early age. Children are respectful, display good listening skills and follow simple instructions. They consistently demonstrate positive behaviours.

Leaders and staff have designed a curriculum that carefully considers what skills children need to learn next. This helps to prepare them well for the next stage in their learning. For instance, children develop a love of reading and are immersed in songs and stories during the day. Younger children point at objects of reference to communicate what nursery rhyme they want to sing, and they enjoy joining in with familiar nursery rhymes. Older children listen intently during story sessions and respond to simple questions that staff ask them about the book.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders have worked hard to improve the overall quality of provision. They have recently safely recruited a number of new staff, who are passionate about their work. Staff comment that they feel supported by leaders. They benefit from regular supervision meetings to review their progress and professional development needs. Leaders routinely provide newer and less experienced staff with regular feedback and coaching. However, there is scope to fully embed and strengthen these opportunities further to help elevate their already good teaching skills to the highest possible level.
• Children are keen to explore the exciting and motivating activities that staff plan for them. For instance, older children demonstrate good physical skills as they decorate penguin hats and talk about the characteristics of a penguin. Staff tune into children's interests and join in with their play. However, they do not always maximise every opportunity to fully extend and challenge children's learning further to support them to make even greater progress in their development.
• There is a real focus on promoting children's communication and language skills throughout the nursery, including for those who speak English as an additional language. Staff use simple signs to support children to communicate their needs and interests from a young age. They provide children with a clear narrative during activities to expose them to new language and words. They carefully introduce and repeat the correct pronunciation of key vocabulary to help all children become confident communicators.
• Children display positive attitudes during activities. Younger children concentrate as they scoop up water with containers. They gaze in wonder as they watch it pour through a funnel. Older children maintain high levels of engagement in the sand tray. They experiment further by using different sized spades to transport the mixture.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported very well. Leaders and staff are passionate about ensuring that children with SEND receive timely support. They work closely with parents and specialist professionals to regularly review their targets. Leaders use additional funding for individual children with SEND well to ensure they benefit from the highest levels of supervision and support during their time at nursery.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff provide parents with daily feedback about their child and deliver termly parent meetings to discuss children's progress and next steps in more detail. Parents comment positively about the approachable staff and say that they value the observations and photos that staff share on the online app.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles successfully. Children are provided with healthy snacks and meals. They spend time outdoors each day and benefit from regular fresh air. Children learn good hygiene practices, such as regularly washing their hands. Staff encourage children to talk about and express their feelings, which supports their emotional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• maximise opportunities to extend children's learning further during activities to support them to make even greater progress in their learning
• further strengthen the coaching opportunities for staff to elevate their already good teaching skills and practice to an even higher level.