Rainbow Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show positive relationships with staff. For example, children in the baby room smile at staff when they hide behind scarves and play a game of peekaboo with them. Children are supported to develop an understanding of staff's behavioural expectations. For example, staff model being polite to encourage children to copy. Children are asked to take turns with their peers, for example, when they spoon crushed fruit into trays to make fruit lollies.

Children are supported to develop their physical skills. Children in the baby room are given time and encouragement by staff to hold onto a low-level banister when they walk down steps in the garden. Staff supervise them closely and offer a helping hand to promote their safety. Children in the pre-school room are provided with opportunities to develop their large arm movements. For example, staff show them how to use chalk on a large blackboard to make marks. Children in the toddler room have opportunities to develop their imagination. For example, in the role-play area, staff show and talk to children about how to care for a doll. Children use objects to represent food and pretend to eat them from a toy spoon.

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

• Staff help children to develop their self-care skills and independence. This helps children learn skills for the future. For example, staff in the baby room encourage children to drink from an open cup in preparation for their move into the toddler room. In the pre-school room, staff support and encourage children to open their food packaging at lunchtime.
• When children first start attending, staff find out about children's prior learning from parents. They use this information to help establish starting points in children's learning. Thereafter, they use observations and assessments to plan for children's progress.
• Children are excited to join staff for adult-led activities. However, sometimes, staff in the pre-school room do not adapt their interactions to meet children's individual abilities when they implement activities. This means that some children are not able to learn as much as possible.
• Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the manager identified there were gaps in some children's speech and language development. So, the manager and staff focus their support on this aspect of learning. This is to help close gaps in some children's learning. For example, staff in the baby room sing nursery rhymes to children and name objects they play with. Children in the toddler room use toy phones and hold conversations with staff. In the pre-school room, children are asked a variety of questions to encourage their thinking skills.
• Staff promote children's emotional well-being when they face changes in their lives. For example, when children are anxious about moving on to school, staff help them to understand and manage their feelings and emotions. The manager invites teachers from schools to visit children in the nursery before they move on. This helps them to become familiar with the adult who will be caring for them.
• The manager and staff share information about children's development with teachers when children move on to school. However, staff do not offer all parents ideas about how they can continue to support their children's learning at home. This will provide children with more consistency between home and the nursery.
• Staff help children to learn about healthy foods and how they contribute to a nutritious diet. For example, staff help children to develop their knowledge of how fruit grows, such as strawberries and bananas. Children help staff to grow potatoes in the nursery garden. Staff offer children healthy snacks and drinks.
• Staff say that they feel supported by the manager with their well-being. They attend supervision and staff meetings to reflect on their practice. Staff attend training courses that help to extend their knowledge of how to support children's communication skills.
• Children are encouraged to follow the rules in the nursery. This includes tidying away toys when staff ask them. For example, staff give children in the toddler room specific toys to put away. Children are keen to help, giving them a sense of responsibility for caring for the environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in the pre-school room to adapt their interactions during planned activities to meet the individual learning needs of the children who take part
• help staff to offer all parents ideas and suggestions about how they can support their children's learning at home.