Paper Moon Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are shown respect and their voices are heard in the nursery. For instance, staff ask them to form a council and to share their ideas of activities they would like to do. When children request waffle tasting, staff offer them this to encourage them to try different foods. Younger children in the toddler room develop a love of books, sitting with staff to listen to favourite stories. They are excited to see familiar characters in the story and shout 'a bear'.

Children show kindness and are supported to share. For example, when children in the toddler room play with bubble mixture, staff ask them if they will pass some of the mixture to their friends. Children in the pre-school room are asked to use sand timers to give them a visual prompt when it is time to let another child play with toys. Children in the pre-school room have opportunities to learn how to use tools safely. When they play with toy hammers and drills, they are asked to wear safety goggles. Staff help them to understand that the goggles help to stop things from hitting them in their eyes. This contributes to children's understanding of how they can keep themselves safe.

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

• The manager and staff plan and implement a curriculum that helps children to progress in their learning. One example of this is to encourage children to be independent. In the toddler room, children are asked to wipe their noses. They proudly say, 'I did it,' when they complete this on their own. In the pre-school room, children are asked to serve their lunch, helping them to manage portion sizes.
• Overall, staff support children's language skills well. For example, they use some sign language to help children understand the words they use. However, staff provide fewer opportunities in the toddler room for children to practise and extend their developing language through high-quality back-and-forth interactions.
• Staff support children who speak English as an additional language to have a sense of belonging in the nursery. For example, they sing songs in children's home language and use words that children hear at home in their play. This also contributes to other children learning a new language.
• The manager uses additional funding that some children receive effectively to support their individual needs. For example, this helps to provide one-to-one support from staff to implement specific targets for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Equipment is purchased to provide a cosy space for children to go to help them regulate their behaviour.
• The manager is passionate and dedicated to providing good-quality care and education. The staff value her commitment to their professional development and well-being. Staff attend some relevant training that is helping to secure improvements to the delivery of the curriculum. However, monitoring of staff's practice, particularly in the toddler room, is not yet robust enough to help them further improve all areas of their educational practice to consistently high levels.
• Staff share information with parents about their children's development. They support parents to continue their children's learning at home. This includes providing them with activities to encourage children to dress and undress themselves in readiness for physical exercise when they move on to school.
• Staff actively promote positive behaviour. For example, in the pre-school room, they give children soft toy bears to take home when they show good listening. Children are asked to be 'helpers of the day'. They are responsible for completing tasks, such as to stand at the front of a line in preparation to go outside and to open the door for their friends.
• Staff follow children's interests and use this to promote aspects of their learning, such as their literacy skills. For example, when children like to look at traffic through a window, staff provide them with paper and pencils to write a tally of the different vehicles they see.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide more closer monitoring of staff's practice, particularly in the toddler room, to ensure that the curriculum for communication and language is delivered consistently well, so all children benefit from high-quality back-and-forth interactions.