Poppins Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are welcomed warmly by the manager, and they leave their parents with ease. They demonstrate a sense of safety and security. Children independently place their belongings on their own individual peg and they say, 'I am here', acknowledging their attendance before becoming happily engrossed in their play.

Children talk with enthusiasm about the stories they like to explore. For example, they have a strong desire to share their love of reading with others to further stimulate their interests. Children enjoy listening to stories read by passionate staff, who use actions and model expressive language to elevate children's engagement and increase curiosity. For example, staff use large arm movements to show children how big the 'terrible creature' is in the story.

Children of all ages and abilities have a wealth of opportunities to enhance their communication skills. For example, older children benefit from 'conversation stations', which introduce new experiences to children to broaden their knowledge of the world around them. Babies demonstrate strong bonds with key people as they make strong eye contact and listen intently during face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who speak English as an additional language benefit from opportunities to use sign language to promote further inclusion in activities and routines.

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

• Planning is highly comprehensive to improve the developmental outcomes of all children, including those children who may be at risk of falling behind in their learning. Children benefit from a 'focus week', where staff conduct heightened observations on which interactions and learning experiences are recorded to evaluate what individual children need to learn next. However, teaching is not always consistently at a high level across the staff team to build on what children know and can do. This does not help children to achieve their highest potential.
• Children greatly benefit from an exciting learning environment, which staff purposefully design to build on children's prior experiences and interests. For example, staff engage parents in activities at home, such as 'an autumn treasure hunt', where children collect natural resources, such as pinecones and conkers, to enhance their learning environment and ignite further conversations.
• Children thrive in social situations, especially during opportunities to engage in imaginative play. For example, older children make their own 'mud pizza', where they carefully arrange previously grown herbs on top of a pile of mud. They share ideas for what they are cooking, and they narrate their learning. Children encourage the inspector to smell their pizza, they say, 'it smells like toothpaste'.
• This shows sensory experiences further benefit children's learning to strengthen their memory skills and keep their play going for longer.
• Staff model consistently high expectations for what constitutes acceptable behaviours. Children enjoy singing songs, which reinforce nursery rules. For example, songs gently remind children to put their knife and fork together after eating to promote politeness, and children learn to place their hands on their knees when food is being served to help keep children safe. Children enjoy receiving rewards for outstanding behaviours. This positively motivates them to try hard in all aspects of learning.
• Children develop a positive view of culture and diversity, which reflects the children in the setting. For example, children partake in cooking activities, where they bake food which relates to their peer's heritage, such as Latvian honey cake. This helps children to develop a positive sense of belonging.
• Staff view parents as equal partners. They confidently gather parent's views to feed into improvement plans. Parents benefit from a 'tip of the month', where they receive guidance from staff. For example, when parents express babies are suffering from sleep regression, staff ensure parents receive information to positively help them. Furthermore, staff share regular summaries with parents about individual children's learning and progress to support them to extend learning at home. Parents state 'care given to children is above and beyond.'
• The leadership team work fantastically together and with staff. Leaders are hands on to support staff to grow in their professional development. For example, staff have access to a wealth of training to gain further knowledge and experience. Staff say, 'they feel highly supported, and their well-being is of priority to leaders.'

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff practice to promote consistency in teaching to build further on what children know and can do.