Rocking Horse Nursery (Southport) Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy in this child-focused and nurturing nursery. Staff prioritise building strong relationships with children and their families prior to them starting. This proves highly effective in helping children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to settle swiftly. Children show that they feel safe and secure as they confidently interact with new visitors. They introduce themselves and confidently show off their outfits for World Book Day. This also helps children to flourish in their self-esteem as they speak out loud. They demonstrate a real sense of belonging and develop skills to prepare them for their next stage in learning, including school.

Staff are positive role models and frequently praise children for their achievements. Children show a 'can-do' attitude. They show good critical thinking and problem-solving skills. For example, older children show resilience as they persevere in balancing wooden planks on crates as they build an obstacle course. When these slip, the children immediately find other solutions, such as moving the crates closer together. From a young age, children are encouraged to develop an understanding of their own emotions and how their behaviours can have an impact on others. Children's behaviour is good and appropriate to their stage of development.

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

• Leaders and staff implement the curriculum for communication and language well. Staff working with the youngest babies sing songs and encourage them to join in with actions. Older children benefit from having good-quality back-and-forth discussions with staff. For example, as older children plant seeds, staff introduce words to extend children's vocabulary, such as 'moist' as they describe the soil. Children are becoming confident communicators.
• Children learn about different cultures and traditions through a range of celebrations, including Diwali and Shrove Tuesday. They enjoy trips into the community and enjoy spending time with the residents at the local care home. Children benefit from visits from professionals such as dentists. This helps them to develop an understanding of the world, including similarities and differences.
• There is strong support for children with SEND. Passionate staff ensure referrals are swift and work well with other professionals so that children who require additional support are supported in all areas of their learning and development. Leaders support staff to follow the advice received from other professionals when completing children's personalised learning and medical plans. These plans are regularly reviewed and adapted. In addition, leaders use any additional funding well. This successfully equips children with the skills they need for future learning.
• Partnerships with parents are a strength of the setting. Staff spend time talking to parents and getting to know children's care needs and stage of development during settling in sessions. This helps to ease the transition from home to the setting. There is a good, two-way flow of communication. Parents receive daily feedback and updates on their children's progress through conversations and via the online app. They comment that they particularly like to attend the stay-and-play sessions, where they receive advice on specific topics such as weaning and potty training. This supports children's continuity of learning.
• Leaders and managers support staff's knowledge and practice with regular supervision sessions and training. They prioritise supporting staff with their well-being and workload. In addition, they reflect on the strengths of the setting and what it needs to do to improve. They are ambitious in their plans and dedicated to ensuring children achieve the best outcomes.
• Overall, the setting has created a strong curriculum that aims to provide children with a wide range of skills, knowledge and experiences. However, the curriculum for mathematics is not consistently strong across the setting. For example, staff use daily routines such as mealtimes to discuss size and quantities with older children. However, staff do not consistently develop younger children's understanding of how to count accurately. For example, staff do not routinely support younger children when they count incorrectly. Therefore, children are not always supported to develop early mathematical concepts.
• In the main, staff teach children to develop healthy lifestyles. Children learn the importance of drinking water to keep themselves hydrated. They spend time in the outdoor area developing their physical skills as they run, jump and ride bicycles. However, on occasion, staff do not consistently support children to follow good hygiene practices, such as handwashing, after carrying out self-care tasks such as wiping their noses. This does not consistently promote children's good health and understanding of how to keep themselves healthy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to understand how to sequence the curriculum for mathematics effectively to support the development of early mathematical concepts for all children
• ensure staff consistently adhere to and maintain hygiene routines to promote children's understanding of how to keep themselves healthy.