Partou Acorns in Adel Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and thrive in this stimulating and inspiring nursery. A highly effective key-person system is in place. This ensures children's personal care needs are consistently met. Children, who are initially unsure, receive gentle and responsive support. This helps them become familiar with their new environment. Babies settle quickly and soon grow in confidence.

The nursery displays photos of children's families and pets. This gives children a strong sense of belonging. Staff place family photos on tables at mealtimes to help spark conversations. Children excitedly find their photos. This helps develop children's language as they discuss their experiences. Staff celebrate and embrace every child's cultural identity. Well-known stories are available in a range of languages. Parents share traditions. For example, during Eid, parents taught children about Mecca and traditional dress.

Dedicated leaders and staff have developed an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. This builds on the skills and knowledge that children develop as they progress through the nursery. Activities are carefully planned to spark children's interest and curiosity. Staff skilfully adapt activities in the moment. For example, children experiment with bendy pipes in the water tray. This activity evolves into children creating space belts. Children run around the garden, delighted by their inventions. Children are highly motivated and show exceptionally positive attitudes to learning.

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

• Staff use every opportunity to give children a voice within the nursery. A children's pre-school committee chooses weekly themes to guide activities. Experienced and skilled staff adapt their teaching in line with these themes, such as space. Using a rocket, staff encourage children to count down from five to zero to launch the rocket. This is revisited as a focused activity to reinforce number recognition and counting skills. As a result, children are developing a good understanding of early mathematical concepts and skills.
• Observant staff complete detailed assessments with precision. Along with regular observations these help to identify gaps in children's learning. Where additional support is needed, targeted strategies and support plans are implemented to help children progress. As a result of these highly effective interventions, gaps in children's learning are quickly reduced.
• Attentive staff support children and families through key milestones and transitions. These include toilet training, visits to the dentist and stopping the use of dummies. Parents can borrow books to support with these transitions at home. Nursery teddies provide children with additional emotional support during dentist visits. Additionally, children can put their dummies on the 'dummy tree' and receive a surprise from the 'dummy fairy'.
• Children benefit from a wide range of purposeful outings in the local community. These include visits to local donkey sanctuary and trips to local shops and cafes. This gives children rich and varied real-life experiences.
• Children flourish when they are asked to be helpers and are given additional tasks. For example, helpers hand out spoons and bowls to their friends. Children independently pour their own drinks and serve their own food. This helps them to develop their physical skills and learn about portion control. Children feel a sense of responsibility as they help staff to prepare the sleep mats and wipe up any spillages.
• Partnerships with parents are extremely positive. Parents are delighted with their children's progress and how quickly they settled in. Staff share a range of ideas of how parents can support children's learning at home. This includes sending home food activity bags to encourage families to recreate favourite nursery meals.
• Leaders and managers are passionate and committed to achieving the best outcomes for children. Managers regularly review staff practice through observations. This allows them to put targeted training in place to support them in their role. Peer observations also provide opportunities for staff to share ideas and identify areas for improvement. Leaders actively seek parent feedback to support ongoing self-evaluation.
• Staff well-being is a top priority for leaders. Managers go the extra mile to support staff and ensure they feel valued. They celebrate staff's achievements with a 'superstar of the month'. This means that children benefit from a motivated and skilled staff team.