Rascalz

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children and their parents and carers warmly on arrival at the nursery. This positive start to the day helps children to feel secure and confident and separate from their parents with ease. Children are keen to join in with activities and interact with their friends. The nursery's 'home from home' ethos provides strong continuity of care. This is a key factor in supporting children's emotional well-being and their learning and development.

Leaders sequence the curriculum well to cover children's key milestones across all areas of learning. Staff use their knowledge of children's interests to plan activities. For example, they introduce mathematics using dinosaurs and use sensory exploration to build children's social skills. Staff support children to gain high levels of confidence and independence. For instance, they encourage babies to learn to put on their own hats. Pre-school children confidently dress and undress themselves in role-play clothing without requiring support.

Staff support children to develop a positive sense of self. They sing a 'hello' song to the babies to start the day and use photos to help the youngest children recognise themselves and their friends. This learning evolves as children get older. Pre-school children confidently identify their written names and toddlers show a developing awareness of sounds by clapping rhythms, which provides a strong foundation for future learning. These shared group activities build a strong sense of community, where children value and celebrate one another.

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

• The effective key-person system means that staff know children well and build strong bonds. This supports a reassuring settling-in process for children. Staff use on-entry checks and regular assessments to identify any gaps in children's learning. They then share this information with parents and other professionals to provide targeted support for all children, to ensure their smooth transition.
• Staff promote children's health, focusing on oral hygiene and healthy eating. Children's learning progresses from babies playing with toothbrushes to pre-school children confidently explaining their toothbrushing routines during a visit to a local dentist. They also understand the consequences, knowing that not brushing causes cavities.
• Children develop healthy habits and self-care skills. For example, they pour their own drinks at mealtimes and know that healthy food helps them grow 'big and strong'. Staff support children by offering freshly cooked lunches and encouraging healthy lunch boxes.
• Staff support children's communication and language well. They model key words for babies and introduce older children to new vocabulary, such as
• 'camouflage' and 'jellyfish'. Children develop a love of books and rhymes through enthusiastic stories. Staff use props and offer choices to capture children's interest. However, while interactions are positive, some staff speak very quickly and ask questions in succession. This limits children's time to process information and respond.
• Leaders provide staff with regular supervision sessions, appraisals and have an open-door policy. They have an active presence in the rooms, which helps to identify staff's strengths and target training. This ensures that staff feel well supported and results in a skilled and close-knit team with high morale.
• Staff promote children's physical development well. Outdoors, younger children learn to balance, climb and ride bicycles with staff's support. Children show resilience and determination, for example, when coordinating their movements to scoop and tip sand. They also develop their fine motor skills progressively. For example, staff sequence activities from babies using spoons in sensory trays to older children handling tweezers.
• Staff build strong partnerships with parents through effective communication, such as daily diaries and encouraging parents to share 'wow moments' from home. Parents praise the lovely relationships their children form with staff.
• Children's behaviour is excellent. They follow the 'golden rules' in the nursery. They can explain the reasons for them, such as that they tidy toys so they do not fall over them. Children show a strong sense of responsibility, working as a team to tidy up and learning to share. This nurturing approach results in kind friendships, with children offering hugs for comfort and calling peers their 'best friends'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give all children the necessary time to process information and respond, such as by supporting staff to slow the pace of questioning during interactions.