Playdays Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show enjoyment in activities indoors and outdoors. Staff build close relationships with them and help them to feel safe, settled and secure. Staff are kind, caring and nurturing. They regularly check on how children are feeling and respond to their needs. Children develop confidence and good levels of self-esteem. Their behaviour is positive, and staff focus on helping them to regulate their emotions. The curriculum is based on children's interests, and staff teach them through their play. Children stay engaged in experiences for extended lengths of time and benefit as staff know how to challenge and extend their learning.

Leaders and staff work closely together to maintain effective partnership working with parents and other professionals. They use assessments to identify potential gaps in children's learning and experiences. This helps them to plan to close the gaps and make necessary referrals to other professionals, such as speech and language therapists. Children are well-prepared to start school and have secure foundations for future learning. Parents are very happy with the nursery and leave positive feedback for the manager and staff team. They feel their children have made excellent progress, particularly in their speech and social skills.

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

• There is a clear curriculum in place to help children build secure foundations for their future. Staff focus on supporting children to develop strong communication and language skills and focus on helping them to start school. Staff know their key children's current stage of development and what they need to learn next. However, when children are not with their key person, teaching is less focused on their individual learning goals.
• Staff provide babies with a warm, safe environment. They prepare indoor and outdoor spaces carefully to support babies growing physical skills. For instance, staff help babies to sit up and play with musical instruments. They move resources to encourage them to reach out and crawl. Babies show delight as they clap and copy the movements staff make during song time.
• Children benefit from close relationships with staff who know them very well. Staff gather information about babies' individual care needs and routines. They know about children who have specific medical needs and allergies. This helps them to tailor their practice to meet children's individual needs.
• The arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are effective. Staff work in partnership with families and other professionals to help children make good progress in relation to their starting points. Children show enjoyment as they play and explore with their one-to-one key person. For example, they play hide and seek with staff and use the visual cards on staff's lanyards to help express their needs.
• Staff help children to develop good personal, social and emotional skills. They use specific and focused small-group activities to help older children learn about their different emotions. Staff provide consistent and clear boundaries and expectations for behaviour. They are very good role models and gently remind children to be well-mannered and polite. Children learn to take turns and play with others.
• The curriculum for supporting children's communication is good. Staff consistently promote children's language, listening and understanding skills. For instance, as children play in the large sand tray outdoors, staff speak clearly and provide a narrative. They regularly ask open questions and encourage children to share their ideas and use their imagination. Children enjoy stories and songs throughout the day. Staff model new words to extend their vocabulary and explain what they mean.
• Staff promote children's independence and support them to develop their self-care skills. Children take part in tooth brushing each day to promote good oral health, and they show pride as they begin to use the toilet. However, on occasion, the food provided does not reflect healthy choices or provide children with the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables.
• Staff receive regular supervision and professional development opportunities. They say that they thoroughly enjoy working here and feel extremely well-supported. The team work together to consider how to make changes and improvements to the nursery. They evaluate the use of extra funding and ensure it has a positive impact for the children it is intended for.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus staff's teaching during children's self-chosen play to consistently help children make progress towards their individual learning goals
• reflect on the menu on offer for children and implement changes to ensure children are provided with healthy food choices each mealtime.