Positive Steps Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident, happy and settled at this friendly and welcoming nursery. They are curious and motivated to learn, as they take part in a wide range of interesting and challenging activities. For example, they explore and concentrate as they play, blowing bubbles and making marks with paint. Staff have lovely relationships with the children in their care. They are caring, supportive and kind. Staff encourage children to 'have a try' as they thread pretend fruit onto shoelaces, as part of a game. They praise their efforts which helps to promote children's confidence and self-esteem.

Staff support children to become increasingly independent. They encourage them to take off their coats and shoes, wash their hands and hang up their aprons. Older children serve themselves food at lunchtimes. There is a strong focus throughout the nursery on being respectful to others. They encourage children to take turns, share and play well with their friends. Staff know children individually well. They know where they are in their development and how to strengthen and extend their learning. Staff promote early reading through a 'Book Passport Scheme'. This rewards children for the number of books they explore each term. This, together with a lending library for parents, helps to promote a love of books to the children in their care.

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

• There is good support for children's developing communication and language skills. Children learn words and phrases as they listen to stories and take part daily in singing and rhymes.
• There is strong support for children's physical development. Children learn to climb, slide and balance of equipment, both inside and outside. Young children stretch their arms as they make marks on long rolls of paper.
• Children strengthen their smaller muscles through a range of activities, including peeling fruit, exploring with dough and mixing paints. There is scope, however, for senior staff to review how they use staff during daily routines, to enhance support for children further still.
• Good support for children's mathematics is found in everyday activities. Children learn how to count and identify colours, as they play with pretend fruit in the mud kitchen and build towers with bricks. There is scope, however, for staff to introduce more visual prompts to further support children's learning and behaviour.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents speak highly of the setting and the dedicated staff team. They feel well-informed about the activities and experiences in which their children take part, and the progress they make.
• There is strong support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff have completed training in supporting children with autism. They work closely with health professionals and develop individual support plans for children.
• Children benefit from a menu of healthy, nutritious and balanced meals. Staff have completed training on healthy eating. They talk to the children about which foods are healthy and which are not.
• Children enjoy daily access to fresh air and exercise in the setting's enclosed and spacious garden. They learn about the natural world and life outside the setting, as they collect leaves on nature walks. Senior staff use additional funding to buy waterproof suits, to help children play outside in all weathers.
• Staff share appropriate information with schools that children go on to attend, to support their move to the next stage of their learning. The setting has also established a strong relationship with staff at the local college with whom they share knowledge and expertise.
• Staff are very experienced and well-qualified. They work together well. Leadership at the setting is strong and the setting is very well organised. Staff benefit from strong support for both their professional development and well-being, through meetings, observations of practice and appraisals.
• Senior staff are dedicated and professional. They gather the views of parents and reflect well on the experiences for children. Senior staff use this information to continually improve the quality of service they provide.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review how staff are used to better support children during daily routines, in order to raise the quality of learning further
• introduce more visual prompts to further support children's learning and behaviour visually, as well as verbally.