Puddleducks Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The staff create a warm and welcoming environment for children. They consistently offer nurturing and respectful care to help children feel happy, safe and secure. This contributes towards children settling quickly. Children show confidence to explore their play spaces and keenness to engage in self-chosen challenges. They have delightful relationships with their peers and the adults who care for them. They have positive attitudes to learning and show enthusiasm to ask adults questions to further extend and build on their existing knowledge. For example, during a bug hunt in the garden, children want to find out more about the insects and eggs they find in the digging patch. Staff support their learning by encouraging children to identify what they have found in reference books to compare the features of the bugs. This helps children understand how to find out more information on a topic they are learning about. Furthermore, staff teach children how to use books for different reasons to help them understand that print carries meaning as part of early literacy development.

Staff plan activities and experiences for children that are adapted to meet their individual needs. Children enjoy taking part and joining in with their friends. For instance, they wait patiently for their turn to choose a prop from the song basket and excitedly sing a range of songs and rhymes. This helps children hear language used in different contexts to build on their range of vocabulary. Staff who care for babies and very young children use their training and knowledge to provide bespoke care that meets their learning needs well. Babies are provided with a range of sensory experiences to capture their curiosity. Staff are extremely supportive and model words to babies linked to their play experiences to help them make connections in their learning.

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

• Managers identify strengths in their practice as well as areas to drive continual improvement at the setting. This forms part of their commitment to self-evaluate the quality of the care and education they provide for children. Their self-evaluations are accurate and show a proactive approach to implementing action plans to address areas in practice that need refining. For example, managers have identified that the curriculum planning process is a work in progress, and its implementation by staff is not fully embedded, and at times, narrow in approach. However, managers show commitment to offer targeted guidance and advice to help staff develop their understanding of effective planning, and children show they are making good progress in their learning and development.
• Staff know their key children very well. They work in partnership with parents, colleagues and other professionals to ensure they have all relevant information about the children. Parents comment favourably about the support their children receive. Staff use information to help keep them well informed about children's care and learning needs. They take account of any individual support required, for example ensuring that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive timely interventions. This helps children receive the help they require to catch up.
• Staff are positive role models and act with courtesy and respect during their interactions with children. For example, they ask for children's consent and cooperation before they wipe their noses. Staff build warm and caring relationships with children that support their emotional well-being effectively. In turn, children start demonstrating positive behaviours, including kindness and empathy to their peers. For instance, when a child hurts themselves, their friends offer assistance and reassuring hugs to check their friend recovers quickly.
• There is good support for children's language development. Managers and staff recognise and value the importance of supporting all children to develop good levels of communication and language. They read and share stories and songs as well as engage children in regular conversations. Children listen attentively and recall familiar words they have learned from stories and songs they know. They repeat new words, using these in the context of their play, showing they are confident communicators.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to plan and implement educational programmes that are broad and balanced and precisely identify the specific knowledge they want children to learn
• develop staff's understanding of how to plan purposeful learning opportunities in the outdoor provision consistently to support children's knowledge and skills.