Puddleducks Nurseries

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and settled in this friendly nursery. They form close attachments to staff and other children and effective friendships are being made. Babies demonstrate how their imaginations are developing. They contentedly play with dolls, laying them down and covering them up. Babies show their caring attitudes as they handle the dolls gently. Toddlers enjoy being outside, where they freely explore the wide range of activities. They enjoy playing with sand and water and being active as they use ride on toys. Pre-school children are developing good skills when using tools. They carefully use knives to cut dough and hold pens correctly to make marks and are beginning to write their names.

Children's speech and language skills are good, this includes those children who speak English as an additional language. Staff introduce children to new vocabulary, such as when they are building. Children enjoying saying and repeating news words, for example 'ratchet'. The use of signing and visual prompts helps younger children and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities to begin to communicate. Children are gaining good independence. They know where to find their belongings, such as when it is time to go outside, and know when they need to ask for help. Children's behaviour is good and they play together very well.

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

• The enthusiastic manager and dedicated staff team have a clear vision for what they want children to achieve. They know children well and plan a wide range of activities across all areas of learning. The manager has good systems in place to track children's progress and he helps staff to quickly recognise any gaps in learning. They take prompt action to close these. As a result, all children are making good progress and are well prepared for the next stage in their education.
• Partnerships with parents are very good. Parents say that staff share information with them about their child's progress and provide advice on how to support their learning at home. Parents state staff prepared their older children for school very well, saying they are thriving because of the strong start to their education they gained here.
• Children enjoy listening to stories and joining in with songs and rhymes. They talk and sing with enthusiasm and show their developing communication and language skills. Staff give children time to choose and join in with stories. However, at times staff ask too many questions in quick succession or quickly give their own answer. This does not enable children to process information and think about their response.
• Children are leaning how to adopt healthy lifestyles. They talk about the foods they like to eat and know that fruit is a healthy choice. Children develop their personal independence as they learn to serve and feed themselves. The manager has fostered a good relationship with a local dentist. This results in children and families learning how to adopt strong oral health routines.
• The provider and manager have robust recruitment and selection procedures in place. They carefully identify staff who are suitable and share their vision for high-quality care and education. The provider and manager support the staff team very well and build a positive atmosphere for staff well-being. Staff report they are given good support and have many opportunities for ongoing professional development. The manager has strong systems in place to observe, monitor and supervise staff. This impacts positively on their teaching and practice.
• Overall, staff support children's learning well, especially by building on spontaneous learning they see as children play. However, at times, staff do not plan group activities effectively enough. Although children enjoy these times, such as practising yoga moves while listening to a recorded musical story. They are not always able to hear and follow the instructions quickly enough before its time to move on.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children time with more time to process information and think of a response to questions
• continue to support staff to develop their teaching skills, especially in relation to leading group activities.