Red Robins Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children engage in meaningful, well-planned play opportunities. Staff show that they understand how to help children learn. For example, they show children how to use scissors. This motivates children to join in. Staff give children good explanations that help them to build new knowledge. Children confidently choose what they would like to do in the calm environment that leaders have created for them. They listen carefully to each other and adults. Children proudly celebrate their achievements with 'high fives'. They are helpful towards their peers. For example, children hold out pens for them to invite them to join in with drawing.

Leaders ensure that there is a strong focus on providing children with lots of time to share stories and songs. Staff deliver these to children in groups and individually. This helps children to develop a good vocabulary, as well as a wide range of knowledge about the world. Children listen attentively to stories, which they become familiar with. They then enjoy playing with a wide range of resources, which staff present invitingly to them. Many of the resources reflect aspects of the stories that the children know. This helps them to remember new information as they revisit language, ideas and concepts during their play.

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

• Managers have a positive approach to continuous improvement. Since the last inspection, they have embraced support from various sources to help them improve, including the local authority.
• Managers and staff build their professional knowledge through a variety of appropriate training. They share their new knowledge with each other to help staff improve their practice. However, not all staff show that they fully understand how to deliver all aspects of the well-planned curriculum. For example, while leaders state that they have introduced the use of sign language to help children further with their communication and language skills, not all staff use signs consistently or regularly with the children.
• Babies and young children are particularly content at the nursery and make strong progress. Staff talk to them and encourage them to join in with exploring their playroom environment. They teach babies how to learn new physical skills such as climbing and sliding. Babies make sounds and shake instruments. When staff sing a song about animals, the babies fetch animals from places in their room and bring them back to the group. Babies learn and use lots of new words throughout their day. They begin to try to count. Staff follow babies' sometimes brief fascinations and interests with them.
• Children behave well. Staff are positive role models who communicate their expectations simply and effectively. They encourage children to listen to and understand one another. Staff help children to tell others clearly if they do not like something that is done to them.
• Outdoors, babies and young children have attention, support and close supervision from staff. This helps to keep them safe. However, they are not always able to explore the environment as older children play around them busily. For example, the older children use footballs actively but not unsafely around the younger toddlers. This limits the ability of those children who are developing their physical confidence and competence to begin to explore more freely.
• Parents comment how much their children enjoy coming to their nursery and on the bonds they build with staff. Many parents comment about the strong communication and language progress that staff help their children make.
• Staff regularly update parents about their children's day, using an online system. This means that parents can have meaningful discussions with their children about their day. This builds children's sense of security and belonging. Staff give parents further learning suggestions and resources, linked to the planned curriculum. This helps parents to reinforce and further children's learning at home.
• Staff engage in meaningful conversations with children at calm mealtimes. They encourage children to eat a healthy diet from the nutritious food menu. Children build their self-help skills as they practise serving their own vegetables.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the monitoring of staff practice to achieve further improvements to the good teaching
• enhance the provision to support babies and younger children to explore, learn and play outdoors.