Redmires Lodge

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make a strong start to their learning and development as they become happy, confident and purposeful communicators. For example, babies learn about the world as staff introduce them to the 'damp', 'slippery' and 'squelchy' substances that the toy frog jumps into in their sensory play. Two- and three-year-old children talk about the 'frightening' sound of a lion's roar and the 'gentle' playfulness of a puppy as they share a favourite story with staff.

Children feel safe and secure in the well-organised and well-managed nursery. They rise to staff's high expectations for children's polite and courteous behaviour. They learn to listen carefully to instructions and to take very good care of themselves. For instance, children learn to roll up their sleeves and wash their hands thoroughly as they listen to and join in the many songs and rhymes that guide their hygiene routines. Children become increasingly confident to express their opinions and make decisions about their play.

Children make strong and consistent progress from their individual starting points to fulfil their potential. They acquire the skills and attitudes they need for their future learning, including starting school. Parents comment on staff's deep understanding and care for all their children's needs, which supports their positive well-being and successful development.

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

• Staff provide sharply focused support to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and with other vulnerable learners. Staff gather and share information effectively with parents to ensure that they identify any development or learning delays at an early stage. They work closely with other professionals, such as physiotherapists and speech and language specialists, to ensure children achieve all they can during their time in the nursery.
• The development of children's ability to communicate confidently and express their ideas and emotions is at the heart of the nursery's well-planned curriculum. Staff ensure that children feel they are listened to and that their utterances and ideas are valued. They use a range of well-considered strategies, such as repetitive and engaging songs and rhymes, to constantly introduce children to new words and phrases. They encourage children to use their emerging language skills through, for example, careful questions, such as 'I wonder why?' or 'what do you think?'
• Leaders are ambitious to promote very high standards of care and learning through all their work. They are very good role models and create a warm and welcoming ethos valued by staff, parents and children. This is underpinned by rigorous procedures to fully understand and strengthen the quality of provision and to support staff's professional development and their well-being effectively.
• Staff place great emphasis on promoting all aspects of children's personal development to ensure that they become confident and considerate learners. They work closely with parents, for example, to support babies' sleeping, eating and other routines to help them feel safe, refreshed and ready to learn. Older children are helped to name, understand and appreciate their different emotions through, for example, stimulating creative activities based on well-chosen books and stories.
• Staff help children to build their physical skills systematically and thoroughly as they progress through nursery. Children's fine motor skills and hand and arm control are constantly promoted. For example, babies learn to hold large hand-sized crayons and make simple marks. Older children use a wide range of fine and thick pens, crayons and chalks. They create giant flower pictures on the ground or finely detailed illustrations of their construction work or illustrations for the 'book of the week'. These skills strongly support their later letter formation development.
• Children develop their larger physical skills. For example, they learn to place one foot in front of another on the narrow balancing course they have planned and created. They push their friend around the garden on their bikes or toy cars. Staff take time to carefully show children how to improve their skills, whether cutting with scissors or balancing on one leg.
• Staff help children achieve high standards of behaviour and politeness. Children learn to share, to be patient and to take turns. They are proud to take on roles such as the 'line leader' as they prepare to go outside to play.
• Staff build long-lasting partnerships with parents, who are proud to recommend the nursery. Parents typically feel the leaders and staff create a 'caring and creative environment' and that they receive detailed, very regular feedback that helps support their children's further development.