Rainbows Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this caring and stimulating nursery. They are happy, independent and curious. Children are greeted with a friendly smile from staff who create a welcoming atmosphere. They arrive happy and are eager to learn. Children are emotionally reassured by the friendly and warm relationships they share with staff. For example, when visiting a different room in the nursery, babies check that familiar adults are nearby. This demonstrates positive emotional attachments. There is a buzz of excitement as children choose from a variety of toys, games and activities available. Staff prepare a stimulating play space. To illustrate, children enjoy being creative and using their imagination as they play with foam. Children practise their hand-eye coordination as they mix and move foam with purpose. Staff introduce mathematics and talk about full and empty containers. This helps children to understand measurement and quantity in hands-on practical ways. Staff plan fun and engaging activities. Children develop good attention skills and sustained focus.

Staff are consistent in their expectations for children's behaviour. They use colour cards as visual aids for behaviour cues. For instance, amber cards are presented, and staff remind children to wait or take turns. Rules are well established and embedded into everyday play. Children understand right from wrong. For instance, children confidently remind each other to 'line up' and 'walk inside', demonstrating they know what is expected of them. Children who behave well are lavished with plenty of praise. Staff use animated phrases such as 'wow' and 'that's amazing'. Children noticeably stand tall when they hear encouraging words. This illustrates the positive impact that encouragement has on children's sense of pride and self-esteem. Children are happy, safe and behave well.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders and staff have shown a relentless commitment to improving standards. Staff have completed a wealth of training to build their skills. Leaders have reviewed risk assessment systems, and the curriculum has been redesigned. There is an impressive thirst for development, which has improved outcomes for children.
• Strong teamwork is at the centre of the nursery's successful improvement journey. Frequent staff meetings have created an arena for staff to share ideas and be fully involved in the process of improvement. Collectively, leaders and staff work well together to drive development plans.
• Leaders consider staff workload. They thoughtfully check in on staff well-being and welfare to ensure they are happy. This contributes to high staff morale, in turn impacting positively on the quality of care and learning offered to children.
• Staff model language well. They talk to children continuously, enabling children to hear accurate pronunciation and sentence structure. Staff ask questions to promote discussion and listen to children's responses. They carefully explain the meaning of new words to enrich children's vocabulary. These effective interactions help to build children's emerging language and communication skills.
• Children enjoy books. Reading strengthens children's appreciation for words and language. Children and babies listen to stories during daily story sessions. Younger children point to illustrations, and older children discuss characters. Children of all ages develop a love of books.
• Leaders design a varied curriculum that prioritises building on what children know and can do. Children develop the necessary skills in readiness for the next stage in their learning and the eventual move to school.
• Children are independent. They help to tidy away toys and care for the environment. With supervision, children wash their hands prior to eating and serve themselves at lunchtime. Children are self-assured, independent and confident.
• Staff work tirelessly to build positive relationships with parents. Staff share detailed feedback about children's progress and daily experiences. Regular information-sharing helps to ensure a collaborative approach to children's care and learning.
• Staff observe children and regularly track their progress. They understand what children can do and identify any gaps in learning. However, staff do not always make good use of this knowledge to focus their teaching with precision during planned adult-led activities.
• Staff incorporate good levels of challenge into children's play. They offer activities that become increasingly more difficult. This helps to extend children's skills and knowledge beyond current capabilities. However, during group activities, staff occasionally focus their attention and time on louder and more confident children. This means quieter children do not fully benefit from quality interactions and teaching.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of what staff know about children to focus teaching with greater precision and support children's rapid progress
• strengthen staff skills to enable them to confidently manage group activities and ensure all children benefit from the quality teaching available.