Pines Private Day Nursery (The)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff support children to settle at this home-from-home nursery by gathering information about children's routines at home. This helps staff to know how to meet children's care needs effectively and promotes continuity. Children happily leave their parents and quickly start exploring the environment.

The management and staff team ensure that the nursery is safe, well organised, and inviting. They plan exciting activities that they know children find interesting. Children are excited to learn and show good levels of concentration. For example, older children work well with their friends as they make their own play dough. Babies focus intently on pushing cars down drain pipes, which develops their small muscle skills. Young children learn to take turns as they play card games.

The management team staff are passionate about their role and their enthusiasm shines through. They work hard to ensure that children, families, and staff enjoy positive experiences at the nursery, and give their well-being the highest priority. The management team and staff have high-reaching ambition for each child to develop as an individual, be proud of their uniqueness, and leave the nursery ready to access the next stage in their education.

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

• Staff know the children well. They know what they can do and what they are interested in playing with. Staff provide activities that help children to build on skills needed for future learning. For example, children manipulate dough to develop strength in their hands, ready for early writing skills. However, not all staff's knowledge of some aspects of the curriculum intent is clear about what skills and knowledge they want children to gain from all experiences.
• Children take part in stimulating adult-led activities. For example, young children pretend to make tea and pour it into small cups in the water tray. They are encouraged to investigate the different smells and texture of the tea bags. Children have plentiful opportunities to follow their interests. For example, children practise writing as they pretend to be a teacher and make a list of the children who are present.
• Staff support children's physical skills well. They use the outdoor learning environment well to challenge children's large-muscle skills as they climb a steep bank to go down the slide. Children giggle with delight as they try again and again. Staff support young children to balance on a beam to complete an obstacle course.
• Staff develop children's love of familiar stories. Children take a walk through an imaginary wood as they pretend to be Little Red Riding Hood. Staff encourage children to stretch up high like the tall trees in the wood. Younger children tiptoe through a cave as they go on a bear hunt. Babies find out which animals fit into different-sized boxes as they read 'Dear Zoo'.
• Staff promote children's personal, social, and emotional development well. They model kindness and respect in their interactions with children. This helps children to learn about age-appropriate behaviour boundaries as they play with their friends. Young children share resources as they paint flowers, and older children ask their friends if they would like to help them to chop vegetables.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery. They talk about how much their children enjoy the home-cooked meals. Parents appreciate the personalised settling-in session to help support their children to settle as they start nursery. Staff advise parents on how they can support their children's learning at home. For example, they encourage parents to take books home to share with their children and suggest activities, such as a spring walk, to support discussions that children are enjoying at nursery.
• The management team provides staff with high levels of support. They have a high regard for maintaining a happy and well-trained staff team. Staff feel valued and enjoy their work. All staff complete mandatory training, including safeguarding and first aid. There are opportunities to improve practice through training programmes. For example, staff have begun exploring specific communication and language training to more effectively support children. However, this is yet to be embedded by more-experienced staff sharing their good practice, in order for all staff to more effectively support children's speaking skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's knowledge of the curriculum intent, so they are clear about what skills and knowledge they want children to gain from experiences
• embed communication and language training and staff skills in consistently developing children's communication abilities further through their interactions.