Rotunda Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery manager and staff provide a nurturing environment that helps children to settle quickly. Staff focus on building secure relationships with children, parents and carers. This helps them to understand what life is like for children in their care. The relationship between children and staff is a strength of the nursery. Children develop strong attachments with their key person, which helps them to feel safe, secure and ready to learn.

The curriculum offers many opportunities to help children to become aware of their own community and the wider world. It offers a variety of community activities and support, such as the 'community pantry'. This helps children to develop an awareness of people less fortunate than themselves. Children also enjoy visits from the local police officer and other professionals. They learn about the important jobs people do in their community that they can aspire to.

Staff are good role models and provide children with clear expectations for their behaviour. There is a mutual respect between the staff and children. Children learn to follow instructions and they know the routine well. For example, at the start of their session, pre-school children discuss the 'golden rules' such as having 'kind hands'. Children are kind, behave well and show care towards each other.

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

• The nursery manager and staff have a good insight into how children learn. They build a well-designed curriculum which is successfully implemented. Staff know children well and use their knowledge of children's interests to tailor the curriculum to meet their individual needs. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to learn about nature, growth and life cycles. For instance, during snack time, children recall previous learning as they discuss where the fruit comes from. This discussion prompts children to take the seeds from their oranges and plant them in the garden to watch it grow. This helps to deepen children's learning.
• On occasion, staff do not always use correct pronunciation when speaking to children. For example, during activities and daily routines, they mispronounce simple words such as 'water' and 'because'. This does not help children to hear or use the correct pronunciation.
• Despite some gaps, staff engage children in interesting discussions and conversations. They ask questions and give children time to think and respond. This helps children to develop their critical thinking skills.
• Mathematics is skilfully interwoven through activities. Children use words such as 'giant' and 'tiny' as they describe flowers and bugs. They are confident in recognising numbers from one to five. Children can also count backwards with support from staff. These carefully planned learning experiences help to give children an early understanding of mathematics.
• The support in place for children with SEND is excellent. Staff understand the importance of early identification, intervention and working with external agencies. They ensure that children with SEND get the support they need. Any additional funding is spent carefully on resources to ensure children make optimum progress. This means that children with SEND flourish at the nursery.
• Staff are skilled in supporting children who speak English as an additional language. They work closely with parents and speech therapists to put interventions in place. This helps children to gain a good command of English.
• Staff provide experiences for children that they may not get at home. For example, children without a garden have many opportunities for fresh air and physical activity. Children enjoy spending time building dens and completing the obstacles in the nursery forest school. Children benefit from lots of opportunities to develop their small and large muscles.
• Staff help children to become independent in readiness for future learning. For example, at snack time, staff encourage children to cut their fruit. They also use this opportunity to discuss the risks of using knives. Therefore, children are developing an awareness of how to keep themselves safe.
• Partnerships with parents have a positive impact on children's learning. Parents feel involved in their child's education as they attend sessions, such as song time. Staff also offer a lending library of resources that children can take home. This helps parents to support their children's learning at home.
• The nursery manager has high regard to staff well-being. She ensures staff have manageable workloads. Staff receive support through regular supervision and access training to support their practice. Staff morale is high. This provides a happy environment for children.
• The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of significant events, such as a change in director. Leaders acknowledge this was an oversight and they are now fully aware of their duty to notify Ofsted in the future. This oversight does not have any impact on children's safety.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that children hear the correct pronunciation of words to support their ongoing language development.