Puddleducks Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate good levels of confidence at this nursery. Babies settle with familiar staff, snuggling with them for comfort and reassurance. This emotional security allows them to build their self-assurance. By the end of the morning, they are babbling and smiling at visitors and crawling to toys of their choice. Older children speak clearly, gaining the attention of staff when they need to. Staff respond with genuine care and interest in what children are saying. This helps children gain a sense of belonging at their nursery.

Children have a range of opportunities to build up strength in their small finger and hand muscles; vital for later writing skills. Babies handle their spoons with control and squeeze soft and squidgy materials. Older children paint with brushes and carefully place small googly eyes on their craftwork. They explore the range of resources by themselves as they shake shakers and feel paint.

Outside, children marvel at the ice that has formed overnight. They spend time independently investigating how to break the ice to get to the toys that are stuck. They find different tools and utensils and take turns to see which work best. Babies hear music regularly and move their bodies to the music. They jig up and down and tap their toes to the beat. This helps them learn about how their bodies move.

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

• The leadership team has a clear overview of the nursery. They meet regularly with staff to consider the needs of the children and what they provide for them, so they can make improvements over time. The leaders recognise the importance of more-experienced staff role modelling for less-experienced staff. The manager monitors staff practice. However, leaders do not pinpoint precise professional development opportunities, to enable staff to deliver the highest quality of teaching.
• Parents speak highly of the staff and all they do for their children. They say they can see the difference in their children's vocabulary since attending nursery. Parents feel their children are safe at nursery because all the staff, including the chef, work together with them to meet their children's needs, such as allergies.
• Staff help support children's communication skills. As babies play, staff repeat descriptive words for babies to hear, such as 'shake' and 'squish.' Staff ask older children to listen to others. Children then practise this during role play as they talk on the phone to each other.
• Staff know children well. They obtain information about their lives outside the nursery. They regularly assess what children already know and can do. Staff use all of this information to provide thoughtful learning opportunities that promote children's development.
• Children build on their understanding of mathematical concepts through a variety of activities. Staff encourage children to match pairs of gloves by colour. Children line up small toys and count them accurately. This helps them gain an understanding of number.
• Children behave well. Staff encourage good manners and are good role models. They are calm and sensitive when children's behaviour needs redirecting. Staff work with parents to consistently help children learn what are acceptable ways to behave. This helps develop children's social skills.
• Independence is integrated into everyday routines. Staff encourage babies to wipe their hands clean before helping them complete the task. Older children put on their coats and use the toilet independently. This helps them be ready for the next stage of their learning, such as school.
• Staff, alongside the nursery special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, identify children who are not meeting age-related expectations. They work hard to help ensure children do not fall behind in their development. Staff contact expert professionals for advice and to support the whole family.
• Staff follow children's interests and allow them to experiment in their play. However, they do not consistently ask questions that will help children develop their critical-thinking skills and extend their learning further. When children want to make a snowman, staff explain there is not enough snow, but do not help children consider what they could make with the snow they have.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine further the focus for professional development so that all staff develop their teaching skills to the highest levels
• help staff extend children's learning when there are spontaneous opportunities, to help children think of their own ideas without giving them the answer first.