Piglets Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff consider children's interests when they plan for their learning. For instance, when children show an interest in the weather becoming colder, staff organise a winter themed activity to extend children's understanding of the world around them. Children enjoy investigating what happens to ice when they sprinkle salt on it. Staff encourage children to think of different words to describe their observations, which helps to extend children's vocabulary.

Children are given opportunities to try new things. For example, staff give children different foods to eat during snack time to enable them to explore different tastes. Older children serve their own food, which supports them to develop their independence skills. They demonstrate a willingness to keep trying as they attempt to pick the food up with tongs. Staff give children encouragement and support to help them achieve their task. This helps children to learn to persevere when they are faced with challenges.

Staff support children to take appropriate risks during their activities. For instance, when children choose to balance on beams, staff gently guide them to think about how to arrange and use the equipment safely. Children listen to staff and respond appropriately. This helps children to learn how to manage risks for themselves.

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

• Leaders implement effective strategies to promote staff's well-being and professional development. Leaders ensure that they meet regularly with staff to discuss how they are getting on and any concerns they may have. Leaders also observe staff practice so that they can provide staff with mentoring and coaching. This enables leaders to identify areas where additional training and support for staff are needed, which helps to improve children's experiences at nursery.
• Leaders and staff understand the importance of working with parents to help children to settle in well when they first join the nursery. Staff take time getting to know children, which enables them to design a settling-in programme that is tailored to each child. This supports children to adjust quickly to being at nursery and to confidently engage with staff.
• Parents are happy with the setting and their children enjoy attending. Staff communicate effectively with parents and keep them informed of their children's progress through the parent app, termly reports and regular, informal chats. Staff also encourage parents to share what children have learned at home so that staff are more informed about children's progress. This helps staff implement appropriate planning and support for children's continued learning.
• Leaders and staff provide effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work in partnership with other agencies involved in children's care to promote their ongoing development. For example, leaders arrange for parents and professionals to provide staff with relevant training. This enables staff to meet children's needs.
• Overall, staff are focused on promoting children's safety. For instance, they regularly check on babies while they sleep. However, they do not always respond promptly to domestic tasks, such as cleaning up spillages to reduce the risk of children slipping. This does not fully support children to identify and manage risks for themselves.
• Staff support children to strengthen their mathematical knowledge, such as by singing counting songs. Staff extend these learning opportunities by encouraging children to represent the numbers. Children eagerly join in and show staff how many fingers they need to hold up to match the number in their song. This enables staff to assess what children know so that they can identify how to support children to further their understanding of mathematical concepts.
• Staff arrange the learning environment to support children's physical development. For instance, babies become fully engrossed in scooping and pouring oats into containers. Toddlers manipulate play dough to make birthday cakes. They place sticks on the top to represent candles and sing 'happy birthday' to their friends. This helps children to develop their small-muscle skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise the importance of taking prompt action to respond to hazards in the environment, such as spillages.