Ollie Owl Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this nurturing and welcoming setting. They have warm and caring attachments with staff and demonstrate they feel emotionally secure. Staff know children well and provide a stimulating learning environment for children of all ages. They identify children's individual next steps in learning and provide activities that promote these effectively. Staff follow proactive systems to prepare children for when they move on to other settings, such as school.

Staff encourage children from a young age to develop a real interest in books. Toddlers select board books independently, turn the pages and point at the pictures. Staff make books available for children to take home and enjoy with their family, cultivating children's early love of reading.

Children behave well. Staff encourage children to share and take turns. This helps children to develop good personal and social skills. Children learn to manage their own safety, for example, when they take supervised risks climbing on equipment outside. They enthusiastically dig for treasure and excitedly display what they have found. Children learn to be independent from an early age. Staff support babies to feed themselves and encourage older children to manage their self-care needs. Children grow in independence and take good levels of responsibility for managing aspects of their own play and learning.

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

• The leadership team and staff provide a curriculum that follows children's interests and focuses on the development of the skills they will need for future learning. Staff assess children's abilities and use the information to provide activities and opportunities to enhance children's learning. They find out what children already know and can do and plan a varied curriculum.
• Parents are very positive about the nursery. They describe it as a 'wonderful, supportive environment'. Parents feel that they have been very well supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. They know what their children are learning and understand what they can do at home to support them. Staff communicate with parents in a variety of ways. For example, they hold parents' meetings, provide daily discussions and use an online app to share information, including photos of children, with the parents.
• Leaders and staff prioritise developing children's communication and language skills. Staff talk constantly to children and listen carefully to what children have to say. They carefully match the language they use and the questions they ask to the needs of each child. The benefits of staff training are already evident. For example, children's communication and language have improved as a result of the 'helicopter stories' initiative.
• Children develop their physical skills through a range of stimulating experiences. For example, they spend lots of time in the outdoor area where they can run around, ride tricycles and learn ball skills from the visiting instructor. Staff talk about exercise and why the food at lunchtime is so good for the children. This helps children to understand the importance of having a nutritious diet. Staff plan activities for children to learn the importance of brushing their teeth. This contributes to children's good health and physical development.
• A range of stimulating activities help children to develop their early writing skills, strengthening the small muscles in their hands. For example, toddlers become increasingly confident and deeply engaged as they make marks on chalk boards. Older children make potions using pipettes to fill bottles, and pre-school children learn to write their names. However, staff do not make the most of opportunities to further extend children's learning in mathematics, For example, as children were playing with water, staff did not explore with children how many containers it takes to fill a bottle.
• The leadership team encourages staff to become specialists in certain areas. For example, a member of staff is the science champion. They are responsible for introducing activities linked to science, technology, engineering and maths to broaden the curriculum even further. The leadership team demonstrates an ongoing commitment to improvement, helping to keep their practice fresh and innovative.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend children's good mathematical skills, supporting staff to recognise and build on the opportunities that occur in children's everyday play and activity.