Panda Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from a well-organised environment, indoors and outside, which motivates their play and learning. For example, younger children pretend to mow the grass as they talk about 'cutting it shorter'. They sit with their friends to talk about how 'hard using the lawn mower can be'. Children develop high levels of independence. They routinely attempt age-appropriate tasks for themselves. For example, younger children try to put their coats on as they go outside. They persist at these new tasks and show immense pride in their new achievements. Staff praise children and help them to develop a can-do attitude when trying new things. Children develop strong friendships with their peers, they enjoy playing together and behave well. They understand the rules and boundaries of the nursery and routinely follow these, listening and responding to staff well. Children demonstrate that they feel happy, safe and develop good levels of confidence and self-esteem. This helps them to develop the emotional resilience they need for future learning well.

Children develop good problem-solving skills. They enjoy experimenting to test their own ideas as they play. For instance, as younger children build towers they experiment with how they can add bigger and smaller blocks to make their tower stronger. Older children connect puzzle pieces together as they work out how to turn the pieces to fit. Children enjoy challenging learning experiences and show a strong ability to use their thinking skills to solve problems well.

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

• The manager has successfully addressed the weakness identified at the previous inspection. This has a positive impact on how staff work together to keep children safe. The shared vision of improvement, in partnership with the local authority, has enabled the manager to successfully review other areas of the nursery. This benefits children's personal, social and emotional development. The manager recognises that there is more to be done to embed how staff use the new curriculum, with particular focus on how they can tailor learning to children's specific next steps. At times, staff's knowledge of what they want children to learn next is not precise enough, particularly in relation to their speaking skills. That said, children make good progress, overall.
• Children have a variety of opportunities to develop their physical skills. Older children challenge themselves to climb on the pirate ship and younger children enjoy riding on the scooter over the bumpy track, to develop their large muscles. Children snip paper and use crayons, stickers and paint brushes in their creative play. They gain good control of their small-muscle skills, which helps to develop the hand control that they will need for later writing, when the time comes. Additionally, external visitors run weekly sessions, such as ballet and football. Staff enrich children's experiences and build on their confidence in their own abilities.
• Children behave well and show positive attitudes to their learning. They listen and respond to staff requests, such as tidying away toys before they sit to eat. Staff encourage children to value and respect their friends, they listen to their ideas for play and take account of these, showing respect. For example, as children sit for rhyme time, they wait patiently to pick a song. They join in with songs that their friends choose and recognise that they have 'different favourites'.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents say that they feel staff are approachable and their children are safe and happy in their care. Leaders share children's daily activities and overall progress regularly with parents through conversations and the setting's online platform. However, opportunities to build on these partnerships, to ensure that all parents are supported to fully contribute to their children's learning and development, are not fully effective.
• Staff provide a wealth of activities, which motivate children to learn, both indoors and outside. They know children's individual interests and provide learning experiences which promote their curiosity. For instance, as older children explore plastic gloves filled with water, they notice how the bubbles move inside. Staff explain how these have become trapped inside as children listen carefully to the explanation and share this new information with their friends. Staff value the uniqueness of each child and recognise how to adapt teaching to capture their individual interests. Consequently, children are excited and interested to learn.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed the curriculum intent and enable staff to have a clear focus on how they plan and tailor learning for children more precisely, particularly when supporting their speaking skills
• build on partnerships with parents to ensure that all parents are supported to fully contribute to their children's learning and development.