Rks Brightsparks

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager and enthusiastic, ready to begin their day at this welcoming and nurturing nursery. They separate easily from their parents and carers and become quickly engaged in their learning environment. Children feel safe, secure and happy in this inclusive setting. They seek comfort and reassurance from their key staff, who respond with genuine warmth and attentive care.

The nursery provides children with a curriculum that is based on their interests and next steps in learning. Staff arrange the learning environment to spark children's interests. From the moment children arrive, they show positive attitudes and engagement as they explore their surroundings. For example, children enthusiastically engage in imaginary play together and take turns to be the driver. Other children pretend to make ice creams and sodas as staff positively join them in their play. All children make good progress.

Staff are dedicated to delivering high-quality care and education for all children, with particular attention to those who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They make effective use of additional funding to provide extra staff, tailored resources and experiences, such as visits from the farm. Staff collaborate closely with parents and a range of professionals, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and social workers. They also engage in ongoing training and develop individual learning support plans to meet the specific needs of children with SEND.

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

• Managers are reflective. They evaluate what works well within the nursery and what could be improved. Managers communicate effectively with staff through daily conversations and frequent meetings. They observe staff during activities and share feedback on teaching strengths and areas for development. This is linked to targeted training, such as specific baby room training. This ensures that staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date.
• Children behave well. Staff act as positive role models and maintain high expectations for children's behaviour. They consistently encourage the use of good manners, sharing and taking turns. Children follow routines and understand the structures of the day. Staff promote a kind and calm environment, allowing children to explore confidently. They provide appropriate praise, reinforcing children's understanding of the behaviour that is expected of them.
• Partnerships with parents are mostly effective. Parents speak very highly about the nursery and value the opportunities that staff provide their children. Staff use an online app and face-to-face communication to keep parents informed about what their children have been doing. However, staff do not yet provide tailored guidance to parents about how they can build on their individual children's specific next steps in learning at home. In addition, parents are not aware of who their child's key person is.
• Staff support children to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children have daily access to outdoor physical play and enjoy walks to the local park, where they use larger play equipment. They bring their own packed lunches, and staff work closely with parents to promote healthy lunch choices. Children have daily opportunities to brush their teeth. Each child is provided with their own toothbrush, and they brush their teeth at set times during the day.
• Staff consistently promote children's independence during daily routines. For example, younger children and babies are supported to feed themselves, while older children serve their own meals and clear their plates afterwards. Staff thoughtfully arrange the learning environment to allow children to make choices in their play and learning. These opportunities help to build children's confidence in their own abilities.
• All children develop good communication and language skills. Staff ask a broad range of thoughtful questions and allow children time to respond, effectively supporting their thinking and language development. Children show enthusiasm for reading stories alongside staff. Through consistent modelling, staff repeat and clearly pronounce words, helping to reinforce the correct language use.
• Overall, children benefit from high-quality interactions with staff during activities. For example, children learn to work together as a team as they keep balls rolling on a parachute. Staff encourage children to coordinate their movements and raise the parachute higher or lower. However, on occasion, during outdoor play, the interactions children receive from staff outside of group activities are not always of the same quality. This means that some children spend periods of time without meaningful engagement from staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop partnerships with parents to ensure that all parents are aware of who their child's key person is and how to build on their child's learning at home
• support staff to enhance their interactions during outdoor play with all children to fully support and extend their learning.