Precious Times Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have developed a curriculum that helps children to explore their own ideas and to voice these confidently. Staff encourage children to vote to help make decisions for the nursery, such as to decide the name for the pet rabbit. Staff consider children's play interests to support their planning and ask children to vote for the book of the week. Children develop a love of books. Two-year-old children thoroughly enjoy reading books to themselves and say 'the end, I've read it.'

All children make good progress, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff help children to develop their independence, so they can complete everyday tasks for themselves. Older children manage their own toileting routines and two-year-old children are independent at mealtimes.

Babies are extremely happy and settled. New babies quickly form strong attachments to the staff, who are kind and nurturing. Staff make good use of nappy changing routines to encourage babies to interact with them and support their communication skills. Older children behave well and show respect for staff and each other. Staff help two-year-old children to develop their social skills. Following a gentle prompt, children tell their friends they have found a snail.

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

• The provider has a strong vision for the future of the nursery and has implemented effective changes since registering. She values the views of parents and staff to help make continuous improvements. The provider has plans to introduce a wider range of teaching approaches to benefit the different ways that children learn.
• Leaders provide staff with effective supervision, coaching and training. Apprentices receive extensive support from leaders as they complete their coursework. Staff explain how their well-being is important to the provider. However, leaders' monitoring of staff practice is not yet fully effective to identify where staff need further support and training to extend their professional skills.
• Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum that is progressive and helps children to build on their knowledge and skills as they progress throughout the nursery. Staff consider children's interests when they design the layout of the rooms and children are generally motivated to play and explore. However, staff do not create the learning environment to precisely reflect the children's stage of development in each room.
• The support for children with SEND is good. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with outside agencies to ensure that children receive the support they need. Leaders closely monitor the progress that children make in their communication skills. They provide targeted intervention programmes to help children who need additional language support. For example, pre-school children develop their language skills to talk about fruit. They describe their favourite fruit as they instruct the member of staff how to draw it.
• The key-person system is strong with good communication between staff about children. Staff make effective use of their observations of children to identify targets for children's learning. Overall, teaching is good and staff enhance children's play well. For example, they follow children's imaginative play interests and create storylines.
• Staff provide children with good opportunities to be physically active and develop their large- and small-muscle movements. Babies bend their legs as they dance up and down in response to music. Two-year-old children build their leg strength as they push themselves along on wheeled vehicles and climb up the steps to the slide. Pre-school children learn how to use tweezers.
• Staff help older children to understand that we have a range of feelings and that we do not have to feel happy all the time. Children learn that their actions can impact on others and to take responsibility for these, such as tucking their chair in so nobody trips over it.
• Parent partnership working is excellent. Leaders create extensive opportunities to engage children's parents and wider family. Staff value the contribution that parents make to their discussions about children's progress. Parents say how well their children have progressed with their social interactions and communication skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend monitoring of staff practice even further to identify where they need additional support in planning and teaching
• enhance the planning for the indoor learning environments to provide children with ambitious and motivating learning experiences that help them to build fully on their existing knowledge and skills.