Poppies Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are exceptionally confident in this welcoming and exciting nursery. They are very respectful of their friends, demonstrating kindness and friendliness in their play. Children build a sense of belonging with staff as their key person pays close attention to their needs, providing individual care. Children spend copious amounts of time outdoors and experience a stimulating variety of rich activities that help them to understand the natural world, develop independence and negotiate risk. Children spend time copying yoga positions outdoors and relax their whole bodies in the tire swing as they spin around.

The thoughtfully planned environment means that children are constantly surrounded by independent learning opportunities. Staff notice what captures children's interests and take these moments to guide and extend learning further. Children hammer nails into wood to make hedgehogs. Staff use wondrous tones of voice as they compare the length of different nails and praise children for hammering carefully. When children remember that hedgehogs are nocturnal, staff expertly help them recall the meaning of this word. Most-able children are further challenged to understand the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals in a playful way. They divide toy animals into two baskets, embedding their new and extensive vocabulary. Children demonstrate their knowledge as they build recognisable cars out of boxes and tyres and name dinosaurs while dusting for fossils. They marvel at their own achievements, building a high sense of self-worth.

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

• Leaders are highly qualified and passionate about the excellent service they provide for children. They proactively instil and share practice with staff, emanating the dedication and desire to give children the best start in their education. Leaders promote staff well-being which means staff support children's welfare to a high level.
• Staff are extremely knowledgeable about their profession. They are motivated to develop themselves in ways that impact positively on the children they teach. For example, they choose training courses that focus on the needs of their key children. They mentor each other and frequently discuss what they can improve in the nursery to benefit the children that attend.
• Staff help children to understand the importance of trial and error. While teaching a new song, a staff member explains that it is alright that she sang the wrong words because now she can teach herself and the children the correct words. This helps to build children's resilience in an emotionally safe atmosphere.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit immensely from the work the staff do. They challenge other professionals and champion children's abilities. The provider and her team work tirelessly to ensure that this group of children makes the best possible progress from their starting points.
• Additional funding is spent wisely. Staff obtain information about children's home lives and provide a range of experiences to truly enhance their life endeavours. For example, items that link to the local mill are brought into the nursery for the children to experience. Staff deliver specialist language groups to help children develop their communication skills. This helps children to catch up with age-related expectations.
• The staff team carefully considers how children's skills can be used elsewhere in their lives. Their extremely strong knowledge of child development and meticulous planning of the curriculum means that children build on what they already know and can do. This helps children to deeply embed learning. Staff carefully observe and intervene at the right moments, with high-quality interactions, to support children's thinking skills.
• Parents are overwhelmingly complimentary about the nursery. They speak very highly of the relationships that staff build with their children. Parents explain how they have noticed their children have learned vital skills at nursery and caught up with their social skills they were concerned about since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
• Staff provide children with rich opportunities to be prepared for their next stage of education. They support children's growing independence and social development. Children persevere to communicate with their friends in a socially acceptable way. This helps children to develop meaningful friendships.