Parsonage Farm Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in the exceptionally safe, happy and inspirational nursery. From the moment they arrive, children are busy and highly engaged with exciting and stimulating activities. The extremely nurturing and welcoming staff ensure every child's needs are precisely met. This means children quickly settle and are soon focused and playing with their favourite toys and friends. Children form very strong emotional bonds with staff.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff expect children to show kindness and consideration for others. Children are polite and extremely friendly. They show excellent social skills when they welcome visitors into the nursery, such as by introducing themselves. Older children demonstrate sophisticated and well-developed strategies for negotiating and sustaining play with one another. For instance, during imaginative play they listen to one another and develop one another's ideas to create complex stories and games.

Children are highly curious and extremely motivated. They instinctively use resources to explore and experiment. For instance, babies push toy cars through paint. Older children use bricks and planks to copy and re-create Bodiam Castle. All children demonstrate high levels of focus and attention. They develop excellent thinking and problem-solving skills when they talk about their plans and ideas with receptive and enabling staff. Children acquire the skills they need to be excited, curious and inquisitive life-long learners.

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

• Leaders are fully focused and determined to provide outstanding care and education for all children. They provide excellent professional development for all staff to maintain and improve their skills and knowledge. Leaders persist in securing any extra support children need, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This helps all children to improve and progress with their learning and development.
• The curriculum is precisely sequenced to provide all children with the skills they require. Every area of children's learning has been carefully considered and the curriculum designed to support their individual needs and interests. Children access a plethora of exciting, stimulating and inviting activities, indoors and outdoors.
• Teaching is superb. Staff are excellent at explaining, modelling language and encouraging children to persevere. For instance, while children draw, staff help them describe what they are doing, to extend their imagination and skills.
• Children's communication and language skills are excellent. Babies learn sounds and rhythms to support their growing language skills. Children use sophisticated and more complex sentences to describe their thoughts and ideas. For instance, they describe their plans in detail while they build with construction toys. Children remember new words they have learned, such as caterpillars making 'cocoons' and chicks hatching in the 'incubator'.
• The inspirational outdoor space is carefully designed to help extend children's physical skills. The environment provides children with exciting challenges. For instance, children competently walk on low stilts or climb up and slide down the steep mound. Staff plan sensory and messy activities, such as water, digging and paint, to extend outdoor leaning. Children consolidate their skills when they join in with ballet and yoga.
• Children show excellent listening and attention when they share books with staff. Babies and young children demonstrate their knowledge of books. For example, they love to look at the books of photographs that staff make about their families. Older children predict and help to tell familiar stories.
• Staff skilfully help children to become fully independent and capable of looking after their personal needs. Staff ensure children understand the benefits of healthy lifestyles, such as eating a balanced diet and taking exercise. Babies' routines are precisely tailored to their own specific needs. This helps to create continuity in their care and strong bonds with staff.
• Parents cannot praise the nursery highly enough. They respect the attention all staff give to their children and the bonds they form with families. Parents enjoy supporting children's learning at home, as well as in the nursery, and they regularly share information with staff. Parents are highly impressed with the efforts staff made to keep everyone safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff enrich children's knowledge and broaden their experiences. For example, children excitedly talk about visits from local fire and police officers to support their understanding of different occupations. Children understand how they are similar and different when they play with resources that reflect the diversity of the nursery and modern Britain. Children's cultures and the languages they speak are valued and celebrated.