Priory Poppets

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff build close, trusting relationships with children. Their commitment to providing outstanding care and learning for all children is infectious. Staff use their knowledge of children's abilities and future learning to focus sharply on ways to stimulate, motivate and challenge children through an excellent range of activities and experiences. As a result, children flourish in this exceptional nursery. Children relish being outdoors. They rustle through the fallen leaves and staff encourage them to express what they are doing and the sounds that they can hear. Children develop an excellent understanding of right from wrong and staff support children as they learn to negotiate from an early age. Children show high levels of confidence and independence. Their manners are excellent and their care and kindness towards each other is impeccable. Babies and young children relish opportunities to explore. Staff nurture children, meeting their individual needs at all times, and babies and young children clearly value time with them. Children develop a strong understanding of the wider world and diversity. They learn about their own uniqueness and the traditions and cultures of others. Children show high levels of interest as they learn why we wear poppies on Remembrance Day.

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

• Children make exceptional progress. They welcome the praise and recognition for their excellent work. Staff motivate children at all times. They gently encourage and support children and they, in turn, strive to be the best they can. As a result, children become extremely confident and self-assured.
• Teaching is superb. Staff plan a curriculum that continually builds on what children already know. Robust assessments of children's abilities enable staff to focus sharply on every child's next stage of learning. Staff have high aspirations for all children. They use their own professional development opportunities to raise their awareness across the wide spectrum of childcare and continually build their own knowledge and skills.
• Children thrive in this nurturing environment. Staff are excellent role models. They work closely with parents and other professionals to provide consistency between home and nursery. Staff channel children's energy and enthusiasm through activities and children learn to regulate their own behaviour. Staff encourage children to think about the impact of their behaviour on others. Children show respect towards their peers and adults. They listen intently to what others have to say and understand that their views and opinions are important.
• Partnerships with parents are superb. Parents praise the nursery and the committed and caring staff. They are delighted with the service and everything that their child learns and is involved in. Parents play an active role within the nursery and the school as a whole. Their participation is valued highly and staff encourage parents to share their knowledge and experiences of cultural events and traditions. Transition through nursery and on to school is superb.
• Children show high levels of confidence and engage extremely well in activities. The exciting outdoor environment enables children to explore the natural world. Children access a wealth of resources that support that exploration. For example, they confidently use small tools to dig and hunt for different insects and show great excitement when they find worms in the soil. Children collect different natural materials, such as twigs, soil, leaves and stones, mixing them together to make alternative foods for the birds. Children are reminded to use the cutlery safely as they cut and chop clay into different shapes to recreate their own pictures of hedgehogs and other wildlife.
• Babies and young children show awe and wonder as they explore different materials and make marks in various coloured sand. They are intrigued and excited as staff sprinkle glitter and it falls softly on to paper and they watch, mesmerised to see where it has come from. Babies show high levels of concentration as they try to pick up the glitter between their thumb and forefinger and study it as it sticks to their hands. Staff use lots of repetition of words and expressive language to encourage children's developing language and communication skills.
• High emphasis is given to building children's awareness of healthy foods and lifestyles. Children enjoy an excellent variety of foods which are prepared freshly each day. Staff place great importance in ensuring they know individual dietary needs and preferences and that these are met at all times. Comprehensive care plans are drawn up with parents to ensure that children's safety and well-being is assured at all times.