Rookies Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in this child-focused and nurturing nursery. Staff are attentive to children's emotional needs. They provide them with comforting cuddles as they begin to feel tired. Children are confident and inquisitive. They explore the varied range of appealing activities that reflect their interests with enthusiasm. Staff know children well and support their development. All children make good progress.

Staff support children to be independent. Babies are encouraged to feed themselves while younger children manage risk as they help to prepare their own healthy snack. They show high levels of perseverance and keep on trying to cut strips of pineapple in response to staff praise. Older manage their own hygiene and self-care. Staff prioritise children's communication and language skills. They use a carefully selected core book over several weeks to encourage children to remember and join in words and repeated refrains through repetition. Children enjoy joining in with familiar songs and rhymes and staff introduce them to new words, such as seahorse. Younger children discover how pressing and removing buttons from dough creates interesting patterns and textures. Older children solve simple mathematical problems, such as subtraction and develop strong critical thinking skills. They show enthusiasm for writing, with some confidently able to write their own name independently.

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

• Children's behaviour is good and appropriate to their stage of development. They are beginning to build friendly relationships and understand about expectations. Older children know to wait patiently for their turn to clear away their dinner trays and staff sensitively support babies and younger children to share resources and take turns. Inviting cosy areas and regulation stations in every room create nurturing spaces that support children in recognising, understanding and managing their own emotions.
• Children with special educational needs/and or disabilities are well supported. Staff form strong partnerships with other professionals to focus on closing identified gaps in children's learning. Any additional funding the nursery receives is used meticulously to support children's individual needs.
• Staff effectively monitor children's progress and identify what children need to learn next. They plan a curriculum that introduces children to new experiences and knowledge, such as new growth through planned activities. Overall, these planned activities support children to build on what they know through a sequenced approach. For example, older children gain a secure understanding that seeds grow in to plants over time. Staff's skilful use of questions and sharing of stories linked to growth, such as jack and the beanstalk helps to deepen children's understanding and motivates children to recall knowledge.
• However, some planned activities for younger children are less effective. For instance, they plant runner bean seeds but have no prior knowledge of what seeds or runner beans are, this limits their ability to make meaningful connections.
• Partnerships with parents and other settings children attend is good. Staff keep parents informed of their child's development through an online platform, verbal discussions and the offer to attend parent evenings. Parents are warmly welcomed to events throughout the year and have high regard for staff, they describe them as 'bubbly' and 'friendly'.
• Children lead healthy lifestyles. They benefit from organised enrichment activities from visiting professionals that increase their physical abilities through dance, yoga and team games. Children thoroughly enjoy time in the inviting outdoor areas. However, the organisation of some transitions throughout the day mean that children wait for extended periods of time because staff do not fully tailor the routines to children's needs. For example, babies sit waiting too long for their lunch to be served. Therefore, children are not always engaged in meaningful learning.
• Leaders work with staff to support their ongoing professional development. They observe staff interactions and invest time modelling high-quality teaching across all rooms. However, identified areas for development in practice are not always prioritised. This results in some staff's teaching being variable. For instance, they do not consistently adapt their teaching to precisely match children's individual learning when all children gather as a whole group. Therefore, children's learning is not always promoted to the highest level. Staff feel valued. Their achievements are recognised and celebrated by leaders. This has a positive impact on staff well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• concentrate more sharply on implementing a sequenced approach to children's learning
• refine the organisation of routines during the day to minimise waiting time for children
• strengthen and embed the support for staff to adapt their teaching to precisely match the individual learning needs of children.