Old Station Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe, secure, and confident at the nursery. They enjoy a variety of activities based on their interests. Children show a love for water play and enjoy making puddles to splash and play with toy dinosaurs in. They begin to explore a range of mathematical concepts, from shape and size to counting and numbers. Children use spoons to scoop water and count how many spoons of water will fill a bowl. They initiate conversations with practitioners about how many spoons they think will fill the bowl and predict a number. Practitioners support their counting skills.

Children begin to develop good communication skills. Practitioners are good role models and encourage children to be polite and respectful. They support children to listen to each other and take turns in conversation, for instance when suggesting songs and rhymes they want to sing. Children use sign language and actions alongside spoken language.

Children behave well and have good attitudes to learning. They engage and focus on activities planned for them. Children enjoy outdoor play and exploring large apparatus. They encourage each other as they climb or use large dome-shaped spin tubs together. They help each other balance in the tubs and take it in turns to spin each other.

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

• Leaders construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to build on what children already know and can do to build on their next steps. For example, practitioners build positive relationships with parents to gather information about children's starting points. This helps them support children to make good progress in their development.
• Practitioners plan an effective curriculum based on what they know and understand about their key children's interests and stage of development. For example, children have a keen interest in dinosaurs, and so practitioners provide activities that engage and inspire them. Children learn interesting facts about dinosaurs, like their eating habits, and staff introduce new vocabulary, such as 'carnivore' and 'herbivore'. However, at times, practitioners provide a lot of information in quick succession, preventing children from having the time they need to process and formulate their own responses.
• The provider has the same aspirations for all children. The curriculum is ambitious and challenging for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Practitioners work with partner agencies to plan a cohesive and consistent approach to support the learning and development of children with SEND.
• The provider has effective care practices in place that supports the emotional development of the children. Key people know their children well and demonstrate the progress and next steps of individual children. Young children are supported in building strong bonds with their key people to ensure that children are secure and settled in the nursery.
• Practitioners promote children's confidence and independence. They teach children to take appropriate risks as they play and learn, both inside and outside. Children enjoy the physical challenge of the climbing wall. They are proud when they succeed and sit at the top to look around them. Practitioners are close by to offer a helping hand to those that need it.
• Children are beginning to manage their own feelings and behaviour and to understand how these have an impact on others. Practitioners have high expectations for children's behaviour and conduct. They model this in their interactions with children. Children are caring towards each other and when they struggle to regulate their behaviour, practitioners take appropriate action to support them.
• Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning through high levels of curiosity. They learn resilience as they explore the shape and size of toy cars they want to fit on the ramp of the toy garage. Children use a trial-and-error approach to discover the smaller cars fit on the ramp. They then look for all the small cars in the basket to play with on the toy car garage.
• Relationships among the children, parents and practitioners are positive and reflect a culture of mutual respect. Parents comment on the good level of care their children receive and the progress they have seen their children make. They remark their children are safe and settled at the nursery and that practitioners share informative feedback each day.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve methods of effectively identifying any weaknesses in teaching, to support staff to enhance children's thinking skills further and provide more time for children to process and respond to questions.