Rainbow Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle well and thoroughly enjoy their time at the nursery. They have access to a well-planned curriculum which keeps them motivated to learn and develop new skills. Children immediately settle into their chosen activities. For example, they share stories, build with bricks and are curious to explore with natural materials. Babies confidently move around their environment, exploring a variety of activities on offer to help develop their physical skills. For example, they have space and opportunity to crawl, pull themselves up and walk alongside furniture. Furthermore, babies relish experimenting with different textures.

Children develop a good understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They engage in purposeful discussions at mealtimes about healthy foods. Children of all ages take part in additional activities, such as music, dance and sports to help build on their large-muscle skills and coordination. Furthermore, children have ongoing access to the well-resourced outdoor area where they use their skills well to navigate obstacle courses. Children behave well across the nursery, sharing and taking turns with their friends.

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

• The manager and staff have worked hard to address the weakness raised at the last inspection. Staff have undertaken relevant training, which has given them the secure knowledge to identify and raise concerns about children's welfare. The manager has a clear vision and strong desire for continuous improvement. She values regular feedback from staff, children and parents to continue to raise the quality of the nursery.
• The manager and staff create a nurturing, home-from-home environment. They gain detailed information from parents about children's care routines and learning needs before they start at the nursery. This enables the key person to develop good attachments with children, which helps to support their emotional well-being. Staff carefully use their good knowledge of key children to identify any gaps in their learning and promptly seek early professional help, when needed. This helps to ensure children make good progress in their development.
• Staff effectively support children's physical skills. For example, they develop their balance, control and coordination as they walk across steppingstones, balancing beams and move around the space on wheeled toys. Children have ample opportunity to develop and practise their fine-muscle skills. Children manipulate dough and use a variety of tools to strengthen their hand muscles in readiness for early writing.
• Children take part in thought-provoking activities to develop their problem-solving skills and perseverance. For example, children work together to help each other and negotiate how to connect tubes together for water to travel from the top to the bottom. Children demonstrate delightful social skills as they help each other, share ideas and encourage each other to have a go.
• Overall, staff support children's emerging language skills well. Staff working with young children use books, songs and repeat familiar words to help increase their developing language. Staff support older children's communication skills through asking questions, introducing new ideas and engaging children in conversations about their own interests. However, at times, staff are not consistent in their approach to fully engage all children in activities to help extend their learning at every opportunity.
• Staff give priority to children's personal, social and emotional well-being. For example, a gradual settling-in process helps children to feel safe and secure in the nursery environment. Children learn to put on their coats and dressing-up outfits. Staff promote children's health well. Children learn about the importance of healthy eating and good oral hygiene. Children are very independent in their self-care and have a good understanding of why it is important to wash their hands before eating.
• The manager prioritises staff's well-being and staff say they feel well supported. She observes staff's practice and offers constructive feedback on what they do well and identifies targeted training to help increase staff's skills even further. Staff comment that recent training helped to increase their confidence in planning 'in the moment' to enhance children's learning through their own curiosities. Furthermore, staff feel recent safeguarding training has given them a secure understanding of what action to take to raise concerns.
• Parents comment positively about the nursery and how their children are happy and settled. Parents are regularly updated about their children's routines via an electronic app. However, parents do not regularly receive updates regarding their child's developmental progress. This does not fully support continued learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• encourage staff to enhance their practice to help all children to become fully engaged and consistently challenged in activities
• enhance communication with parents even further to share information about their children's learning and developmental progress.