Pine Wood Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive keen and ready to learn at this welcoming nursery. They are greeted by enthusiastic staff, who talk to them about what is available for them to play and explore. Children readily explore the variety of interesting activities on offer. They make friends with ease and happily welcome them into their play. For example, they plan a show together with puppets. Children's social skills are developing well. They eagerly share their positive views of the nursery with the inspector, such as when they talk about the fun they have building marble runs.

Children love being active in the fresh air. They have many opportunities for physical exercise and to learn about nature. For instance, children develop their stamina and strength as they negotiate balancing challenges, such as on parallel ropes in the forest area. Children hold the top rope and shuffle sideways with their feet on the bottom rope. This helps to support children's resilience skills.

Children learn to be independent from the start. For example, staff teach younger children how to place their belongings away when they arrive. Older children wash their hands thoroughly after using the toilet without being prompted. Staff prepare children well, academically and emotionally, for their move to school.

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

• The experienced manager is passionate about children receiving a high standard of education and care. She reflects on practice and adapts existing processes for better outcomes for children. For example, the manager and staff personalise suggestions and ideas for each child, which are sent home. Parents comment that their children thoroughly enjoy completing these. This joint way of working helps children to practise skills with increasing competency, such as when older children want to write their names and form the letters correctly.
• Staff use effective ways, such as home visits, to gather important information about children's interests and needs before they start at the nursery. They say that this is an invaluable way to build relationships with new children and their parents. This process enables staff to fully support children's transitions into the nursery. The manager is highly effective at using additional funding to provide children with opportunities to close any emerging gaps in their development. This is particularly the case for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, who make as equally good progress from their starting points as their peers.
• The nursery is well established and at the heart of the community. For instance, children visit the local post office to send letters and visit shops to buy locally sourced ingredients. Staff recently organised for a milk delivery float to come to the nursery. During this visit, children learned where milk comes from and the health benefits of drinking it. This also helps children to develop respectful attitudes for local community services.
• Overall, children behave well. Staff remind them of rules and boundaries to keep safe. For example, children practise the 'stop, look and listen' procedure when crossing roads. However, at times, some staff do not consistently reinforce the nursery's rules for children's best behaviour. As a result, some children do not fully understand what is expected of them.
• Staff report that they are highly valued and cared for by the manager. The manager supports staff's practice by modelling quality interactions with children. However, some staff's practice is not monitored precisely enough by the manager. Her feedback to staff does not focus specifically on improving their practice to achieve consistently high-quality teaching across the nursery. This impacts on outcomes for children.
• Parents are full of praise for the education and care their children receive. They are appreciative of staff's dedication and say that they bring out the best in children and create a loving home-from-home environment for them to feel safe, valued and have fun. Parents feel well informed of children's development and next steps in learning through ongoing verbal feedback and an online app.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to be consistent in their behaviour management strategies to build on children's understanding of behaviour expectations
• monitor staff practice more precisely and provide feedback on how to consistently achieve the highest level of teaching.