Pear Tree Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are cared for by an exceptionally warm, welcoming and nurturing staff team. Staff's gentle and sensitive interactions with children, coupled with an ambitious curriculum, greatly promote children's confidence, independence and positive attitudes to learning. Strong settling-in procedures and staff's attentiveness to children's care needs result in children who are happy, well-settled and secure. A well-embedded curriculum intent throughout the nursery means all staff work towards a common goal for children. Children begin to learn and practise skills for school from a very young age. For example, children in the baby room wipe their faces, place their cups away and thoroughly enjoy using their large muscles to carry their chairs to the table. These impressive skills are then developed and broadened as they move through the nursery.

Staff are excellent role models. They sit with children to eat their own lunch, which helps to embed the expected behaviours at this time. As a result, children sit patiently at the dinner table, happily engaging in conversation with their peers while they wait to give their preference for their meal. They display excellent manners and follow the routine with precision.

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

• Overall, staff plan very well for children's progress. Staff know their key children well and plan activities or experiences that will help them develop the skills and knowledge they need to learn next. Children make good progress as a result.
• The curriculum for children's communication skills is highly effective. Staff use their interactions with children to introduce lots of new words and to build on children's awareness of language structures. Staff then use carefully posed, open-ended questions to give children opportunities to use their new skills. As a result, children develop excellent language skills.
• Stories, rhymes and songs feature in many aspects of the day. Young children display excellent listening skills as they enjoy staff's animated and engaging storytelling. They delight in using their props to join in with the story, anticipating the parts of the story when they will use these. Children's firm interest in books and reading is evident.
• In the main, staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They use a number of effective strategies to help children understand and manage their emotions. This is reflected in children's interactions with one other. For example, children helpfully remind one another of how to count correctly during play with number cards. Other children politely ask for a turn with the resources. Children's behaviour is excellent.
• Staff promote children's health very well. They provide children with a range of opportunities to learn about and practise healthy lifestyles. For example, children eagerly show the inspector the runner beans and tomatoes they have grown from seeds in the nursery garden. Children are physically active and enjoy outdoor play in all weather.
• Partnership working with parents and other professionals is strong. Staff maintain a two-way flow of communication with parents so that children's needs are well understood and met. Staff work closely with the connecting school and others that children go on to attend. The manager is committed to working with professionals for children who require additional support. Children benefit from the collaborate approach to their care and learning.
• The manager oversees staff's practice and the implementation of the curriculum. This gives her some insight into its effectiveness and impact on children. However, this does not provide the level of scrutiny required to help the manager understand where gaps emerge in staff's practice. As a result, there are some inconsistencies in the implementation of the curriculum across the staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the performance management of staff to provide more in-depth evaluations of staff practice and the implementation of the curriculum.