Partou Lancaster Avenue Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and feel safe. The staff know the children well and have formed secure attachments with the children in their care. Staff create a welcoming environment. Children's work is displayed on the walls at children's height. Family photos in the rooms help to develop children's sense of belonging.

Managers and staff ensure that all children benefit from meaningful and important learning opportunities in the nursery. For example, staff plan to improve children's hand-eye coordination. Children concentrate well as they hammer small pins into brightly coloured wooden farm animals on a cork board. Some children practise their scissor skills by cutting out pictures from magazines. Children's fine motor skills develop while they learn to use one-handed tools.

Staff are good role models. They speak to the children in kind, warm tones. Children are keen to please the staff and rise to their high expectations. Children behave very well. Staff are quick to notice when children have disagreements. They help them to resolve conflict by offering possible solutions. When children successfully use their newly learned resolution skills, staff praise them. Children smile proudly.

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

• Staff have a clear vision of what they want children to achieve. Planning is effective in supporting children to develop their knowledge and skills. Staff successfully gather information about children's interests from parents. They use this information to create next steps of learning and home learning goals. Consequently, parents can support children's development and work in partnership with staff.
• Children's developing communication and language skills are supported through staff's engaging interactions. Older children pretend to make a 'winter soup'. Staff prompt them to name the ingredients they collect in the garden. Children say they have collected 'pumpkin seeds' and 'garlic'. Staff read to babies. When babies point and say 'car', staff reply, 'Yes, a green car,' to promote babies' learning. However, on occasion, some staff do not fully extend all children's language during focused activities.
• Staff support babies and children to become increasingly confident in their self-care needs. Children show willingness and attend to their own needs as they wash and dry their hands. Babies self-feed with encouragement from staff. Children self-serve from a young age and scrape their plates clean afterwards. When going outside, children manage their own belongings, such as putting on coats, hats and gloves. Independence is promoted well.
• Staff recognise the importance of developing gross motor skills. Children enjoy rolling plastic hoops down the hill in the garden. They run after the hoops, collect them and run back up the hill. Younger children excitedly play with different-sized balls. They practise throwing them and kicking them. As a result, children develop their large muscle groups and improve stability.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents praise the kind and attentive staff who ensure the safety and well-being of their children. Parents are happy with the progress the children make. They say children have developed their social skills and are becoming more independent. Children are excited to attend nursery; parents say their children 'eagerly run in for breakfast every morning'.
• Managers and staff provide children with opportunities to take risks in a safe environment. Staff supervise children well. Children spend long periods of time practising how to use balance bicycles and pedal bicycles. Children are thrilled to ride the bicycles down the hill with speed. Staff teach children how to slow down and stop at a safe distance. Children are encouraged to take age-appropriate risks. Staff deployment is effective.
• At times, staff interrupt children's play, and this breaks children's concentration during meaningful activities. For example, staff in the baby room prioritise daily routines such as nappy changing times. Some staff do not always notice what children are interested in and attempt to engage children in their choice of activity instead. This can impact children's learning experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on existing good practice to support all children to gain fluency at the highest levels
• support staff to consistently recognise when to allow children to continue in their play without interruption.