Raised in Bristol at Felix Road Adventure Playground

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families receive a warm welcome as they arrive at nursery. Children play together well and make friends easily. Staff regularly praise children's achievements. They treat children with kindness and respond quickly to provide comfort, when needed.

Staff gather detailed information from parents when children first start, to support their understanding of children's individual needs and routines. This information is used effectively to meet children's needs, and it helps children settle well. An effective key-person system helps children to form close attachments with staff. Children benefit from a wide range of enjoyable activities and experiences across all areas of learning and development. Staff plan activities that interest and excite children. For example, in the toddler room, staff set up a doctor's surgery and children engage in imaginative play with one another and dolls using their real experiences of visiting the surgery in their play.

Children make choices as to where they play and move freely between indoors and outdoors. Staff are keen for children to explore nature and develop their physical skills outdoors. Children listen to birds and observe their nests in the trees above them and learn about what insects are living in the insect hotel. Children have good opportunities to practise their physical skills outdoors. For example, they swing on rope swings and create balancing beams from logs and planks of wood.

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

• The provider has worked hard to address actions raised at the previous inspection. Leaders have increased professional development opportunities for staff and reviewed staff deployment arrangements. They have implemented more regular supervision to give specific support and coaching to staff to develop their knowledge and skills and improve practice. This has resulted in staff supporting children's learning through good-quality interactions that also enhance children's communication and language skills.
• Leaders and staff have designed a curriculum that is challenging, reflective of the needs of the children that attend and based on how young children learn best. The curriculum is well sequenced to ensure children learn skills in a particular order before moving on to their next stage of learning. Staff observe and assess children's progress. If they identify gaps in children's learning, targeted support is put in place. Staff implement the curriculum effectively.
• Staff provide children with a balance of child-led and adult-initiated activities throughout the day, both indoors and outdoors. They are skilled at following children's lead. They use opportunities as they arise in children's play to build on what children already know and can do and to extend their learning further. For example, pre-school children show an interest in shiny number objects and staff build on this by teaching them number recognition and extending their counting. It is then further extended by encouraging children to use their physical skills to carefully trace around the number shapes on paper and then use scissors to cut the numbers out.
• Staff ensure that there is a strong focus on developing children's language and communication across the nursery. Children are keen to participate in the specifically planned sessions that enhance their communication skills. For example, babies thoroughly enjoy 'bucket time' sessions. They bounce, clap and smile in excitement throughout. They learn new vocabulary and valuable attention and listening skills as staff introduce them to a range of interesting objects.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are complimentary about the care and education their children receive and feel well informed about their child's development and time at nursery. However, sufficient systems are not currently in place for staff to share ideas and suggestions with parents on how they can extend their child's learning at home.
• Staff promote children's healthy lifestyles. Children eat nutritious meals provided by an external catering company. Staff incorporate opportunities throughout the day for children to develop their self-care and independence skills. For example, they wipe their faces and scrape their own plates after meals.
• Children behave well. Staff are good role models to children, and they support children to take turns and share, which helps them play cooperatively. Children develop good social skills during their time at the nursery and they build strong friendships. However, at times, when there are minor disputes between children, some staff do not help children understand their feelings and the feelings of others. They miss opportunities to teach children strategies they could use to help them regulate their emotions and manage disputes in the future.
• Safeguarding is at the forefront of staff practice and staff knowledge of their safeguarding responsibilities is secure, risk assessment is effective.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• offer more support to parents about ways in which they can extend their children's learning at home, to help children progress further towards their next steps
• support staff to consistently help children to understand and manage their emotions, to help them resolve conflicts and self-regulate.