Poppits Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this good-quality nursery. Older children find their friends and very young children seek out a key person to help them to settle very quickly. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and emotionally secure.

Children's good health and healthy habits are promoted very well. For example, children have plenty of fresh air and physical exercise. They thoroughly enjoy nutritional, healthy snacks and meals, and learn about the benefits of eating healthily and oral hygiene.

Children have very positive attitudes to their learning and play and they behave very well. Children show high levels of curiosity and resilience as they keenly explore a mud kitchen, outdoors. Children recognise minibeasts and the names of flowers, such as 'bluebells', 'centipedes' and 'wood lice'. They find sticks to make marks in mud and giggle when they jump in muddy puddles.

Children benefit from extra-curricular opportunities to help to enhance the experiences available to them. For example, children gain confidence during regular swimming sessions. They learn about people who help us, such as when they recently visited a local fire station. This also helps to promote children's sense of self within the local community.

Children's uniqueness, individual needs and interests are always considered. They learn about each other's diverse backgrounds. For example, children enthusiastically dress up in cultural costumes, cook and share cultural food from home, such as pizza and flat, spongy bread.

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

• Leaders have worked hard to improve practice and provision since the last inspection. They lead with passion and determination. Improvement plans are accurate and leaders have successfully addressed all previous actions raised.
• Leaders engage effectively with external professionals, such as health visitors and the local authority early years team. They have a clear vision for achieving the best outcomes for all children.
• Staff access a wide range of training to improve their knowledge and skills and enhance the teaching of the curriculum. For example, following recent training staff say they have developed their good teaching skills and identified more behaviour management techniques, such as to recognise why some children may behave in certain ways.
• Newly recruited staff receive an induction to help them to understand their role and responsibilities. For example, they know how to respond in an emergency and who to raise their concerns to about a child's welfare. Furthermore, leaders follow safe recruitment procedures to ensure all staff who work directly with children are suitable.
• Staff demonstrate secure understanding of the curriculum they teach, tailored to meet children's needs and interest. They have good knowledge of child development, and the way children learn best. This means children are supported extremely well and make good progress in their learning and development. Children are well prepared for the next stages in their learning and when they move on to school.
• Staff show good teaching skills to help to challenge and extend children's learning. For example, staff use descriptive words, such as 'spiky' and 'bumpy' to help to develop children's vocabulary and use mathematical language alongside children's play. However, staff do not always give children the time they need to respond to questions asked to help to develop children's thinking and language skills.
• Staff successfully help to promote children's love of books, stories and early reading skills. For example, children hold furry tiger fabric and toy tigers while staff read a story about a tiger who comes to tea. Children listen keenly and remember parts of the story. They 'roar' loudly with great enthusiasm.
• Babies and very young children grow in confidence. Staff provide them with choices and opportunities to support young children's independence, so they eagerly crawl, cruise furniture and toddle. Relationships between key staff and babies are caring, sensitive and responsive to help to promote personal, social and emotional development to a high level.
• Overall, staff support children to know what is happening next and making transitions in routine. However, occasionally staff do not effectively organise some transition times, particularly when it is time for children to come indoors.
• Parents speak highly of staff and leaders and the progress children make over time, such as social skills and imaginary play. They describe the nursery as 'wonderful'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with enough time to think about and respond to the questions they are asked
• enhance support to children during periods of transition, particularly during times of outdoor play.