Partou Woodlands Park Day Nursery & Forest School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff in the setting work hard to get to know and understand the children in their care. They develop good relationships with parents to obtain relevant information about children when they first start at the nursery. Staff observe children while they play and monitor and track their progress. They use this information, together with information provided by parents, to plan activities based on children's interests and their next steps for development. There is a positive culture for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Children engage in conversations with staff about a range of topics and demonstrate good communication and language skills. For example, children are keen to explain their weekend plans and experiences. Staff respond to these comments and ask further questions to develop children's conversational skills. Staff offer praise and recognition for children's successes and invite children to celebrate these. For example, children are encouraged to show others their play dough spiders. Children go into the outdoor area in search of real spiders, which helps to embed what they have learned about them.

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

• Parents are supported in understanding their children's development and progression because staff regularly share information with them about their children's learning and next steps. Staff set individual learning targets for children with SEND. These are regularly reviewed and updated so that children make good progress. Positive relationships with parents help to ensure that these children reach their full potential.
• Staff engage children in positive interactions that help them to develop their social skills. They support children in building and developing positive relationships with their peers. This results in children being happy and eager to come to nursery and play with their friends.
• Staff ensure activities are appropriate to children's age and stage of development. For example, children develop their mathematical knowledge and are encouraged to count to 10 and beyond. They also begin to understand concepts, such as 'heavier' and 'lighter'. Pre-school children are encouraged to engage with books. This promotes a love of reading. Children consider alternative endings to stories. This supports their critical thinking skills.
• Leaders and managers have worked hard to develop a new curriculum and planning system in order to further promote children's achievements and outcomes. However, this is not yet fully understood by all staff. As a result, curriculum planning and delivery is not yet consistent for all children to ensure they make the best possible progress in all areas of learning.
• Children contribute to mealtime preparations by setting tables and putting out water bottles for other children. This supports children's understanding of routines and rules of the setting, as well as helping to develop their independence and confidence. However, although mealtimes are overseen by staff members, general staff deployment is not always used effectively at key times to support the behaviour of children in larger groups. This negatively impacts on their attitudes to learning as they become irritable while waiting for the next activity to start.
• Leaders and managers are proactive in organising and arranging further training opportunities in order to help staff engage with their own professional development. This enables staff to build on their existing knowledge of child development and to further understand how children learn. The leadership and management team are also effective in supporting staff well-being and are alert to the needs of individual staff members.
• Staff encourage children to talk about what they enjoy doing and engage in meaningful conversations. Children share their ideas and listen to others when they speak, which develops their social skills as well as communication and language skills.
• The nursery liaises with local schools and other education settings in order to support children's transitions and to help prepare them for their next stages of learning and development. For example, staff arrange transition visits to and from other settings.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement and embed a robust curriculum consistently across the setting to ensure that all children are engaged and challenged to achieve their learning outcomes
• ensure staff deployment is more effective to support children's understanding of daily routines and expectations of the setting.