Rosemary Works EYC Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are nurturing, and they warmly welcome children when they arrive at this vibrant and friendly nursery. They greet children eagerly and are reassuring and attentive to children's needs. Staff know that children learn best when they feel safe and secure. They spend time getting to know children and develop positive relationships with them. Staff create a caring and fostering environment in which children can grow and develop. Consequently, children are excited to learn and settle quickly, eager to play.

Children are curious learners. Staff plan a curriculum that supports children to continuously develop their learning as they move through the nursery. They use children's interests effectively to create activities and experiences for them. For instance, children learn about their emotions. Staff use effective ways to support children to understand their emotions and those of others. Therefore, children are keen to share and take turns, make friends and respond to others with respect and kindness.

Children have lots of opportunities to use their imaginations and be creative. Older children build a train in the garden and eagerly engage staff to join their trip. Staff encourage children to develop their fine motor skills and control over tools, such as using tools for digging and different objects for painting.

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

• Leaders and staff aim to help children gain independence. They provide opportunities throughout the day for children to do things themselves. Staff in the baby rooms minimise furniture to allow children to move around more freely and develop their skills through making choices. Children develop strong independence from a young age.
• Staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They work in partnership with parents and professionals, including local authority teams, and speech and language therapists, to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They implement strategies to help these children make good progress. For example, staff completed training to understand how the noise level has an impact when wearing hearing aids and adapted the environment and the routines to support children.
• Staff encourage children to develop healthy lifestyles. Children enjoy nutritious home-made lunches and select from a variety of fruits during snack time. Mealtimes are a calm and sociable occasion. Children are provided with daily opportunities for fresh air and exercise in the nursery garden and trips to local parks. For example, they enjoy climbing, riding bicycles and running around. These activities help children develop their large muscles, spatial awareness and coordination.
• Staff model language well through engagement with children during free play, as well as during focus activities. They show passion for continually introducing new vocabulary to children and giving clear explanations through a variety of activities. They enthusiastically sing songs and share a range of stories with children. Staff ask questions to support their understanding and sequencing skills. Children show enthusiasm for all these activities but, at times, staff do not always give children time to respond to their questioning or to share their own ideas and thoughts.
• Mathematics is consistently embedded in children's activities. Staff provide play-based experiences to encourage children to expand their maths vocabulary. For example, children count skittles as they arrange them in a row and roll a ball toward them. Children squeal in delight as the skittles fall over. This helps build children's social skills and their understanding of early maths concepts.
• Parents speak positively about the care and education their children receive. They are extremely complimentary about the staff and management team, commenting that good staff retention is a good benefit for the children. They express their complete satisfaction and say staff go 'above and beyond' their expectations. They comment the staff are professional and appreciate how welcome they feel and involved in their children's learning.
• Leaders are good role models for staff, and they guide and support practice well. Evaluation is used well to identify appropriate areas to support continual improvements. Staff work well as a team. Leaders place a high priority on staff professional development, recent training in maths has seen a strong impact on children's development. Staff report that they feel supported by the manager and have high levels of well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to use more effective strategies and allow children to form their own ideas and thoughts, to extend their communication and language skills.