Rainbows Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and happy in this nursery. Staff greet children warmly as they arrive and spend time talking with parents about what children have been doing while at home. Children develop their self-esteem and confidence as they quickly immerse themselves into their favourite play activities with their friends. They are helpful, well mannered and show concern for other children and adults.

Children share a joy and excitement to learn. They are eager and highly motivated. Children make decisions and solve problems as they engage in an extensive range of exciting, motivating and well-planned activities. For example, the creative station offers superb opportunities for children to think and investigate as they repair a paper shopping bag with a hole in the base. Children thoughtfully consider whether play dough might work to fix the hole. They experiment and, when unsuccessful, change their plan to make their own bag using tape and paper.

Children make excellent progress in all areas of learning because staff have high expectations of them. Staff are very good at helping children to develop early reading skills. The teaching of phonics is exemplary. For example, children who are ready are beginning to blend sounds together and read simple words. Younger children develop their large-muscle skills as they enthusiastically and joyfully take part in a fun dance and movement session.

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

• Leaders successfully embed their exciting and challenging curriculum consistently across the provision. The staff team prioritise what they know is important for the children to learn. They are passionate about ensuring that children are successful in learning new skills and are ready for the next stage in their learning. Staff consistently enhance the provision with interesting and exciting prompts and invitations to play.
• Staff are experts in child development and know how young children learn. This helps children to make excellent progress. Teaching is exemplary and focuses on the teaching of skills, noting children's interests and supporting learning through play. For example, staff have highlighted a need to support children's small-muscle skills. As a result, they have provided children with plenty of opportunities to press, squeeze, roll, pinch and pat homemade play dough. Furthermore, children extend their experience because staff have supplied a variety of tools, such as scissors, cutters and rolling pins, to use in their play.
• Staff take every opportunity to support and include children in every aspect of nursery life. Sensitive and timely interventions work very effectively in supporting progress for all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and where there are concerns about communication and language development. Leaders ensure that the provision is consistent and familiar and that there is time and space to work alongside children.
• Parents appreciate the excellent support and advice that staff offer. Communication is frequent, and regular meetings and discussions to look at progress or concerns mean that parents know about their child's development. Parents comment that they are reassured that their children are happy because they are so keen to come to nursery.
• Children's mathematical development is supported well through a wide range of activities. For example, they learn about small, medium and large as staff retell the story of 'Goldilocks and The Three Bears'. This learning is further supported as they choose different-sized chunks of banana at the snack table. They add one more or two more onto the number 22 as they count the children at circle time.
• Children are provided with a wide range of opportunities to learn about the wider world. For example, children know about their community because staff organise visits to local amenities and build strong links with the adjacent school. In addition, each week, small groups of children meet with elderly members of the community, with whom they enjoy singing songs, listening to stories and taking part in creative activities together. These experience's help children to understand similarities and differences between themselves and others.
• Children learn about health and hygiene through routines and activities. They have access to drinking water at all times and self-serve their own snack of cereal and fruit. Staff talk with children about oral health as they play. For example, children use toothbrushes and models of teeth in the role-play area to practise toothbrushing.