Partou Children's House Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and demonstrate secure attachments with staff. Staff plan age-appropriate experiences for children to practise and extend their skills. For example, younger children explore shapes and measures during messy activities such as moulding sand and scooping or pouring water into different containers. As children progress, older children enjoy stories and facts about sea creatures. They become more imaginative in their play as they make up stories with creatures in the water tray. Older children use a range of tools and resources to develop different techniques and strengthen their fine motor skills.

Overall, children benefit from plenty of fresh air and exercise. They develop and practise their physical skills as they ride on tricycles, run around, jump and explore the outdoor space. Staff help children learn to manage risks for themselves as they build obstacle courses out of wooden planks and balance along them. This develops children's problem-solving and creative skills.

Generally, staff know their key children well. Staff model effective communication and provide clear boundaries and expectations such as reminding children to use their 'walking feet' indoors. Children follow instructions and are polite. When minor disagreements over popular resources occur, staff manage them well. Children develop close friendships. They enjoy a range of group activities and cooperate well with their peers. Children demonstrate kindness and respect throughout their play.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders have worked hard to make changes in the setting. Staff have been involved in more coaching and mentoring. This has improved the quality of teaching. Staff have extended their communications with parents regarding the children's key person. Furthermore, staff are better deployed at mealtimes to supervise children's eating.
• The manager has an accurate overview of the quality of the nursery and shows a drive for continual improvement alongside the management team. Leaders make effective use of funding to support children's development needs. They have used it to provide appropriate resources and support for individual children.
• Staff support children's language skills well. Staff communicate with the children to encourage their speech. For example, during sand play, babies hear new vocabulary introduced such as 'small', 'big' and 'pat'. Toddlers benefit from lots of conversations. Staff narrate what they are doing and listen to what children have to say. Older children communicate using complex sentences and new vocabulary that they have learned.
• Staff are warm, kind and caring. The key-person arrangements are effective in helping support individual children to settle and provide targeted next steps in their learning. However, at times, staff do not communicate their key children's next steps in learning with other staff. This means staff are not always aware of how best to support children's learning, particularly younger children.
• Overall, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Some staff are trained to use British Sign Language during conversations and play to help children communicate their needs. Staff work well with families and other professionals to ensure they receive the support they need. However, there are slight inconsistencies across the staff team in recognising gaps in children's learning, particularly the youngest children. This means there are some delays in children receiving targeted intervention to help narrow any gaps in their learning.
• Staff encourage children to be independent and learn skills for the future. For example, at snack and lunchtime, toddlers and pre-school children serve their own food. Children who are learning to butter their crackers or pour their own drinks are supported by staff well. Staff promote good hygiene procedures and help children understand the importance of healthy eating.
• Staff provide many opportunities for children to explore the outside. Children demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning experiences. However, staff do not organise the outdoor area as well as the indoor spaces to support the curriculum intent fully. This means that children who prefer to learn outdoors are, at times, not able to access the full curriculum.
• Staff have effective partnership working with parents. Parents praise the nursery and staff. They are updated regularly on their children's development. Staff support them in how they can continue their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen how children's learning priorities are shared with all staff so that teaching is precisely targeted to support their planned next steps, particularly for the youngest children
• target the support for staff to recognise gaps in children's learning so that intervention is put in place promptly, particularly for the youngest children
• review and improve the organisation of the outdoor area so that it fully supports the curriculum intent.