Riverside Community Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident in this welcoming and caring nursery. Their emotional well-being is supported through secure and trusting relationships with each other and staff. Children can make independent choices in selecting activities and resources. This encourages them to build their self-confidence as they explore their own interests. They can choose to play inside or outside with a range of well selected resources. Children develop a strong sense of community and form a sense of belonging. For example, all children are given the opportunity to engage in celebrations to wish those moving on farewell.

Children behave very well, knowing that staff are nearby to support them if required. They play cooperatively with one another in small groups. Staff use praise and encouragement to promote the children to take part and try new things. For example, during lunchtime staff capture the children's imagination with puppets and songs to support manners and trying new food.

Additional funding that the nursery receives is used effectively by the manager. For instance, the manager has plans to further enhance the outdoor provision by adding a sand area. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the nursery kept in contact with families offering help to support children's learning and well-being. For example, the nursery created a toy library and online song times with staff.

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

• Children make good progress in their learning and development, through a broad, well-planned curriculum. Staff are skilled at delivering the curriculum. However, at times what they want the children to learn is too broad. As a result, sometimes staff do not focus learning intentions of activities to fully reflect the specific knowledge that individual children need.
• Children develop independence with their self-care and learn good hygiene practices. Children are active in setting up mealtimes together, helping to clean the tables before meals with older children helping younger children to pour drinks. Children and adults eat a variety of healthy, nutritious meals together, with staff role modelling the use of utensils. Mealtimes are a social and enjoyable experience.
• Staff use a range of skills to ensure that children's communication is supported. They use visual prompts to support listening strategies and readily sing songs with the children joining in as they play. At times though, staff in their eagerness will ask the children questions about what they are seeing and doing without allowing them time to think about what is being asked before asking another question. This means that at times children do not get enough time to process what is being asked before another question is asked.
• Staff are proud to work at the nursery and discuss feeling supported in their professional development. The manager has a clear vision and plan to ensure that staff take part in ongoing training and development to ensure that individual staff receive specific and focused training to enhance their knowledge.
• The key-person system is effective and well established. Staff use information from parents to support children's learning and development, ensuring that children make a consistent approach, both at home and at the setting. Children attending other settings are well supported. The manager ensures that regular opportunities such termly meetings and informal chats are used to ensure children receive a constant approach between different settings.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) become fully involved in activities and make good progress. They move freely and safely around the indoor and outdoor spaces, which are carefully planned to be fully inclusive for all.
• Mathematical language is used in everyday activities to embed children's knowledge and understanding. For example, staff encourage children to count as they read stories using their fingers to provide a visual prompt for children.
• Children's imaginative skills are supported well. Staff sit alongside children in areas such as the role play. They actively join in with their play as children use resources imaginative to pretend face paint each other for a party.
• Partnerships with parents is strong within the nursery. Parents positively discuss the progress their children have made. There are effective systems in place for parents to engage in their child's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's knowledge to recognise the importance of allowing children time to process and respond to questions consistently in practice
• further develop the curriculum intentions, so that staff can confidently put into practice the exciting learning opportunities for children and how these reflect their individual needs.