Phoenix Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children enjoy inclusive activities at the nursery. For instance, the youngest children join the older children on a walk to the woods. Children develop the skills they need to get themselves ready to go, such as putting on their own coats. Staff accompany their key children outside, so that they can support their individual needs and learning requirements. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities enjoy the outing. Children who are not yet ready to talk, communicate with staff using visual cues. This helps children to know what is expected of them and keeps them safe.

Children develop a love of reading. Those children who struggle to sit and focus with a book are supported well by staff. This enables them to fully engage as they listen to interactive stories. Toddlers enjoy looking at books about nursery rhymes. They push the buttons on the pages and dance along to the music and songs they hear. The oldest children confidently join in with repeated phrases in familiar stories. Children visit the local library with staff. This helps them to understand about the wider community around them. They learn to take care of the items that they borrow.

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

• Children benefited from high levels of support from staff to continue their learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, they enjoyed participating in live online nursery sessions with their parents and watched videos about the nursery before they returned. As a result, gaps in children's learning are minimal and they settled back in quickly following local lockdowns. Younger children happily enter the nursery and wave goodbye to their parents at the door. The oldest children confidently speak about emotions and share their own experiences. This develops their understanding of how others around them might be feeling.
• Children of all ages experience a language-rich environment. Staff learn basic words in children's native languages to support and encourage children's communication with them. They use relevant key vocabulary when they talk to the youngest children. Older children share their thoughts using basic sentences and staff repeat what children say back to them. Staff speak clearly, so that children can hear how the sentences should sound. The oldest children learn about more complex topics, such as 'hibernation'. Staff talk about previous activities that the children have completed. This helps children to make connections with their own experiences. For instance, they talk about when they built a house for creatures in the woods.
• The highly qualified staff team continuously reflect on the provision they offer. Managers regularly observe staff and meet with them to discuss their interactions with children. Managers encourage and support staff to develop their professional knowledge further. Staff share their learning with colleagues and they implement relevant changes effectively. Staff discuss how to adapt the way they plan. They consider children's ideas and interests when planning activities. As a result, children are keen to participate in meaningful and exciting learning opportunities.
• Relationships with parents are strong. The manager recognises that each family's needs are different. This helps her to offer each family appropriate levels of support. Staff find out from parents what children can do for themselves, so they can then provide children with relevant challenges in their learning. They keep parents well informed about the progress their children make. They suggest various strategies to parents to help them manage children's behaviour. This gives children consistent messages between home and the nursery.
• On the whole, staff ask children a range of questions about the activities they complete. They encourage children to talk about what they are doing, such as when children are painting. However, staff do not always use these discussions effectively enough. For example, they do not extend conversations with children to explore and develop their learning and understanding during a colour mixing activity.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use questioning and discussion even more effectively to help assess children's understanding and extend their knowledge even further.