Partou Little Oaks Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe and happy in the setting, supported by staff who show a genuine interest in them and who know them well. Children are confident and make choices about what they want to do in the well-designed indoor and outdoor environment. For example, they enjoy participating in mark-making experiences, as they are provided with large easels, which supports them to explore their own ideas. Children are learning about the world around them. For example, they plant herbs in the garden and observe them as they grow grow, and they post letters to the royal family to learn about the mail system. This helps children to learn about why things happen and how things work.

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

• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff work closely with parents, providing lots of informative information, such as details about toothbrushing, toilet training and using the internet safely. This supports a consistent approach for children, as staff and parents work together to meet their needs.
• Children are provided with nutritious meals. For example, they enjoy vegetable stew and tasty pasta surprise. Leaders take into consideration children's dietary needs and preferences. This supports children to try a range of healthy foods within their diet.
• Staff are supported through coaching, supervisions and access to training so that they are able to improve their practice. However, these processes are not robust enough to identify and improve upon specific weaknesses in teaching, which results in some teaching not being at a consistently high level. When the interactions between staff and children are not at a high level, children lose focus on the activities.
• Staff have thought about how to create an environment that builds on children's home experiences and offers familiarity. For example, they have introduced full-size sofas and photographs in frames in their replicated home areas. This supports children to settle easily into the setting, as they can play with things that they already know about.
• Children are developing their mathematical knowledge. For example, they use dice to understand how dots can represent numbers and look for numbers in the environment. This supports children to understand that numbers represent quantity and are present in everyday environments.
• Overall, staff support children in developing their communication and language skills. For example, babies develop the use of their speech as they participate in nursery rhymes, and staff talk to children as they play. However, staff do not always engage in conversations with older children in ways that extend their language and develop their critical-thinking skills. This means that children answer questions with a one-word answer and are not fully supported to use vocabulary to explain their thinking.
• Children are developing their fine motor skills. For example, younger children make marks using chunky chalk, and older children use scissors with increasing control. This helps to build strength in children's hands and supports early writing.
• Staff support children to understand their emotions. For example, they recognise things that might upset children and talk to them about their feelings. In addition, they use stones with pictures of emotions on and books to help children explain their feelings. This helps children to feel a sense of security and belonging within the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance coaching and supervision support for staff, focusing specifically on how they can improve their teaching so that children remain engaged and interested in activities provided for them
• develop the curriculum for communication and language so that children are exposed to a wide range of vocabulary and use a breadth of words to explain their thinking.