Ripley Nursery School Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

As soon as the door is open, children rush to enter the nursery, unable to contain their excitement. They find their picture on their peg to hang their belongings. 'That's me!' they say excitedly and then eagerly find their friends to explore the activities already set up. Children settle quickly with staff, who are happy to see them. Learning is based on children's interests and experiences from home. This helps them to relate their learning to what they already know and can do.

Children are independent throughout the day. They can choose when to go out into the garden. Children go to the cloakroom and independently put on their 'dungarees' and wellies. They talk about whether they need to wear their hats and gloves because it is cold. This allows children to make decisions about their own needs. There are opportunities for them to take risks, both inside and outside. This includes balancing on beams and logs in the garden, scaling the climbing wall, running across the wobbly bridge and whizzing down the bumpy slide. Staff are always close by to support those children who need it.

Children paint on a large scale outside. They practise their 'big strokes' as they go up and down and side to side, moving on to create circles with their paintbrushes. Inside, children use paint dabbers to create stencil pictures. They use their small physical skills as they unscrew the lids and dab with precision. Children make good progress and their physical skills are developing well in preparation for their next stage in learning.

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

• Members of the leadership team have a clear intent and a secure understanding of how children learn. They recognise the impact of COVID-19 on children and staff. They have designed the curriculum to focus on developing children's social and communication skills to a good level. Staff in the baby room gently repeat and pronounce words correctly and introduce new vocabulary to children. Toddlers enjoy spending time in the role play doctor's surgery. They learn new words, such as 'thermometer' and 'bandage'. Staff provide commentary as children play and engage in conversations with them.
• The quality of teaching is excellent when staff are working with children individually or in very small groups. However, during larger group activities, the environment can be busy and disordered. Staff spend time organising where the children can sit and moving them so that they can see. At these times, the most-able children become less engaged and are not challenged in their learning.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities exceptionally well. Staff access specific training to continually develop their professional skills and improve their practice. Members of the leadership team liaise closely with other professionals, such as specialist teachers. They share ideas and strategies to help children make progress. Additional funding is used for specific equipment and resources to support children's individual needs.
• Partnerships with parents are very strong. Parents comment that they find all staff approachable and have good relationships with their child's key person. They feel the nursery provides a lot of information regarding their child's development. During COVID-19, staff remained in contact with all parents. Parents said they found this effective in supporting their children's return to nursery and that they settled quickly.
• Staff provide opportunities and experiences that give children an understanding of how to lead a healthy lifestyle. They ensure that children wash their hands regularly, have daily physical exercise and eat nutritious meals. In addition, children have regular opportunities to visit the allotment and collect the vegetables and fruit they have planted and cared for.
• Staff give children praise and encouragement that supports their well-being successfully. Children listen well and follow instructions from staff. Staff give children time to resolve minor conflict for themselves. Children remind each other about having 'kind hands' at nursery. They show a good awareness of the rules and boundaries and their behaviour is good.
• Members of the leadership team use self-evaluation effectively and demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement. They have reflected on the needs of the staff team following COVID-19 and have identified areas for further improvement, such as providing new staff with mentoring from experienced staff. Staff receive regular training and supervisions to further develop their knowledge and skills. They report that they are happy and morale is high.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of group activities to increase the most-able children's engagement and involvement, to challenge their learning further.