Radbrook Nursery and Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are warmly welcomed into this safe and nurturing environment. They enjoy the routine and respond very well to staff. For example, children eagerly form a circle in readiness for group time and show high levels of engagement throughout. Children show a comprehensive understanding of numbers and counting. They delight in recognising numbers and the corresponding rhyme linked to the number. Children behave well and have close relationships with staff. For example, children press a mounted button of their choice to request a hug, fist bump, handshake or a high five from staff. Children thoroughly enjoy an obstacle course that staff have made, based on the children's favourite video game character. This in particular inspires children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and all children fully take part. For example, children use words, such as under, over and through as they move around the obstacles.

Babies are confident in their environment, including when they join the older children in their room for lunch. They have close bonds with their assigned staff and enjoy being close. Babies enjoy their interactions with staff, who entice them well to repeat words and sounds. Babies delight in using the various utensils as they explore the dried oats and crackers.

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

• The manager and owner work extremely well together to lead this small and enthusiastic staff team to provide good quality care and education. The well-thought-out curriculum ensures staff introduce children to new learning experiences and build on children's prior learning. Staff work closely with parents to find out what their children enjoy and any experiences they do not have at home. This helps them focus on the essential knowledge children need to help them succeed.
• Staff incorporate books extremely successfully into the curriculum to help ignite children's curiosity and imagination. They creatively use the 'Book of the Week' to plan a broad range of activities to inspire children to learn. Staff place a sharp focus on promoting children's language development and engage them very well in conversation.
• Staff place a high focus on supporting children with SEND. As a result, all children are fully included and engaged. Staff work closely with parents and any professionals working with children to help understand their individual needs and devise their next steps in learning.
• Parents receive detailed assessment reports about their children's progress to keep them up to date. The weekly book bag library system is popular with parents and they appreciate the many events they can attend throughout the year. Parents state they are happy with the service they receive and impressed by the range of experiences, and visits children take within the local community. For example, children have visited the local dentist to learn how to care for their teeth.
• Promoting children's personal, social and emotional development is a clear priority. Staff use a creative range of strategies, such as wooden spoons with emotion faces and engaging stories, to encourage children to talk about their feelings. Staff have extremely strong links with the school next door, which the vast majority of children move on to. Staff provide ample opportunities for children to take part in school events, so children are familiar with the school and teachers when they move on.
• Staff benefit from ongoing staff supervision, coaching and training to help develop their teaching skills. However, the manager does not rigorously monitor the educational programmes to help her identify further areas for development. For example, the manager has not identified that staff plan few opportunities for children to learn about communities beyond their own experience.
• Overall, staff confidently use children's assessment information precisely to plan activities to help build on their learning. However, on occasions, staff caring for the most-able babies do not plan enough challenging physical and creative opportunities to help further extend their skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in the baby room to plan a wider range of challenging opportunities for the most-able babies to be physical and creative, to help further extend their learning
• monitor more rigorously the educational programmes to help identify areas for further development, such as providing increased opportunities for children to learn about communities beyond their own experience.