Roslin Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the nursery, forming positive relationships with staff. Staff provide cuddles and support to children who need extra reassurance, showing empathy and consideration for their feelings and emotions. Key persons closely observe children, understand their home experiences and developmental stages and plan effectively for their next steps in learning. Children engage enthusiastically in their play and activities. For example, young toddlers explore sensory materials with curiosity and sustain their interest for extended periods.

Staff implement the learning intentions of the activities they provide and set clear expectations for all children's learning and progress. Most staff successfully execute the curriculum's learning objectives. They identify and support children, who need extra help in their learning and development. For example, they conduct small-group language activities to help children who speak English as an additional language or have speech delays. These activities enable children to gain the skills and knowledge they need for future learning.

Leaders and managers set clear expectations for behaviour across the setting and actively model consistent approaches to managing children's conduct. They provide staff with guidance and regular training, ensuring everyone understands and reinforces the agreed rules and boundaries. By monitoring how staff implement behaviour management strategies, leaders swiftly identify any inconsistencies and provide targeted support to improve practice. As a result, staff confidently guide children to understand behavioural expectations and promote positive interactions, helping all children to regulate their actions and stay engaged in their learning.

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

• Leaders actively guide staff to plan engaging and stimulating experiences that challenge children and align with their interests. For instance, during a focused activity, children demonstrated mark-making skills by creating patterns in sand trays using sticks and their fingers, which supports their early writing development. Leaders consistently provide professional advice and well-being support to staff, ensuring they remain motivated and confident. They passionately drive improvements within the nursery, maintaining a clear vision for its growth and fostering an environment that prioritises high-quality learning experiences.
• Parents warmly contribute to the nursery and speak highly of the provision. They often praise the staff's friendliness and express how delighted their children are to attend. Staff regularly update parents about their child's progress, using daily discussions, emails and parents' meetings to share information. This approach encourages parents to participate in their child's learning at home.
• Staff enthusiastically promote early literacy skills among children. For instance, they guide older children as they confidently write their names and identify letter sounds. They also nurture a love for books by encouraging toddlers and babies to independently choose board books, turn the pages and point at the pictures.
• Leaders and managers proactively enhance the herb garden area to create a sensory-rich environment that supports children's exploration and learning. For example, they introduce labelled planters where children plant and care for herbs like mint and basil, encouraging hands-on learning about nature while developing their fine motor skills.
• Staff generally promote children's understanding of hygiene practices appropriately. For example, most staff encourage children to manage tasks like handwashing themselves. However, on occasion, staff are not fully consistent in their approach. For instance, at times staff do simple tasks for children rather than encourage them to try for themselves, such as wiping their nose. This does not fully support children to build on their independence skills.
• Overall, staff guide older children to understand behaviour expectations, helping them regulate their actions more effectively. However, at times, staff do not consistently remind children of the rules and expectations to help them behave well. Occasionally, this means activities are disrupted, and children are not supported fully effectively to remain focused and engaged in their learning.
• Babies delightfully smile and clap during music time. Warm, responsive relationships shine as staff cuddle babies. The staff follow their routine with enthusiasm. Babies choose a prop from a bag to signal the song they want to sing. Staff actively use repetition of key words to support the early language development of younger children and those with communication difficulties. The staff pronounce words accurately and repeat them for younger children and those who need extra support with their communication skills.
• The leaders secure additional funding for staff training to enhance support for children needing extra help. Staff design individual support plans and work closely with professionals and parents to ensure consistent care and foster children's progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to more consistently promote children's early self-care skills
• strengthen staff's approach to supporting older children to regulate their own behaviour more effectively.