Nurturing Hands Childcare limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), experience a safe and settled start to their education. This is because the provider and staff want the best for children. Children are happy and love coming to the nursery. They feel safe in the arms of staff, such as when they approach their key person for a reassuring hug. Staff encourage children to explore the nursery, indoors and outdoors, to build their confidence and independence when choosing how to play.

Children with SEND are included fully by staff in the play and learning opportunities that staff provide. They love using their imagination as they play, for instance when pretending to use the telephone. Staff help children to learn well and make great strides forward in their knowledge and skills. For example, children with SEND learn how to communicate effectively with others. Children concentrate well for their age. They listen to staff's instructions carefully, for instance about what comes next in the nursery's routine. Staff help children to wait for a turn in playing with toys. They explain to children why they should not snatch. Children learn about the importance of being fair when playing with their many friends.

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

• Leaders have devised clear aims for their curriculum. This includes a well-thought-out focus on supporting children's physical, social and language development. Staff respond skilfully to children's interests and provide effective support for their learning. Children develop a secure grasp of important knowledge.
• The provider ensures that staff give children with SEND the best possible assistance with their learning. Staff learn from parents about the previous experiences of each child with SEND, as well as about their strengths, interests and needs. They use this information very effectively to support children's development. Children with SEND become successful learners.
• Leaders improve the work of staff carefully, including by using training and guidance from external experts. They ensure that staff use their new learning, such as using open questions to improve children's thinking skills. As a result, children learn from staff how to think deeply and talk with confidence.
• Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. For example, they help two-year-olds to know that they should tidy away the toys that they have been using before they choose other toys to play with. Children learn to act responsibly and to take care of the nursery's resources.
• Staff help children to learn about being healthy. They ensure that children exercise often, including by being outdoors. The children are keen to eat the healthy meals and snacks that staff provide. Children develop important knowledge about looking after their bodies.
• Mostly, staff encourage children to practise using new words and sounds that they have learned. Leaders provide staff with helpful training and guidance. However, they do not spot gaps in some staff's knowledge to deliver the curriculum for communication effectively. This means that, at times, children are not exposed to a wide vocabulary.
• Recently, the provider has used funding to purchase some important resources for children to use when climbing and balancing. Leaders ensure that staff support children's physical development well. Children develop strong core muscles and the confidence to experiment with their new physical skills.
• Staff help children to learn stories and to enjoy using books. They deliberately repeat and revisit stories with children to help them to remember what they have learned. Staff create opportunities for children to retell stories using toys. Such careful consideration and deliberate teaching by staff helps children to understand the joy and wonder that books can provide.
• Leaders make sure that staff communicate effectively with parents, such as about any changes in which staff will be their child's key person. This helps parents to stay informed about important information about their child's education.
• Staff support children's personal development well. However, on occasion, some staff busy themselves with organisational tasks. For example, sometimes, children do not receive the help that they need, such as with getting dressed to go outdoors. Consequently, staff miss some valuable opportunities for teaching children new knowledge.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor more closely the quality of the delivery of the curriculum for communication and language to identify weaknesses in staff's practice
• help staff to make the most of opportunities that arise in the day to help children learn.