Roundabout Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make independent choices about where they play and can take their play outside. This enables children to take the lead in their learning. Children are resilient and show clear determination. If they accidently take a tumble, they pick themselves up and return to their chosen activity. For example, when a child wobbles off the ride-on bicycle, they rub their hands together and promptly pick up the bicycle and continue riding. Children receive gentle reminders about the feelings of others. For example, staff help older children to look at the facial expressions of others to help them think about how that person is feeling. This enables them to stop what they are doing, consider the situation and make a different choice.

Babies learn songs and rhymes, such as by finding items in the song bag. They take out an item and sing a corresponding song and some sing this independently. They copy the actions and learn new words. Toddlers work together to solve puzzles, and they celebrate with a 'high five'. They develop good friendship groups and enjoy each other's company. For example, if they visit the sensory room, they choose a friend to accompany them. Leaders have a secure understanding of how to support staff to make worthwhile changes to their planning system. This enables them to place more focus on the planning of activities for what children need to learn next, while continuing to include their interests.

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

• Leaders have a good oversight of the quality of the provision and effectively target areas for improvement. There is a clear delegation of roles and responsibilities between the leaders, who work together to guide the staff. Staff comment positively about the support they receive for their well-being and of the 'family' atmosphere in which they work.
• There is a robust recruitment process in place, which includes a clear induction for staff to enable them to be suitable in their roles. Staff have regular opportunities for training and to enhance their professionalism. For example, they recently attended training on sign language to build their skills in the differing ways of communicating with children.
• Staff know their key children well. They gather information from parents about their care and learning needs. This helps staff to offer activities and experiences that will interest and engage children. However, some staff do not always deploy themselves effectively to support the team, and they are not always aware of what older children need to learn next. This does not enable staff to make the most of each interaction with children to extend their learning further.
• Older children develop good imaginative skills and take great enjoyment in pretend play. For example, they readily welcome others into their restaurant and work together to take food orders, make the meal and then serve their customers. This shows good levels of cooperation.
• Staff are effective in their methods for providing children with warnings of change in routine. For example, they use a sand timer and announce to children when it will be time to tidy up. This enables children to be able to bring their play to a conclusion and helps them to understand what is happening next.
• Children immerse themselves in creative play. For example, toddlers can be found up to their elbows in paint, relishing in how it feels to touch. This helps children to learn more about their senses and to explore freely.
• Children enjoy time in the gardens. Older children take great care as they roll down the hill and walk across the wooden logs, showing how they balance. Children show great skills, such as when they manoeuvre the ride-on toys down the slope, avoiding their friends and stopping at the bottom just in time. This shows developing awareness of space around them.
• Staff are responsive to babies' nonverbal cues, which enables them to meet their needs. Babies enjoy closeness with staff and receive warm cuddles while having a bottle of milk, or when they do not feel well. This enables them to build good bonds and relationships with staff.
• Staff foster good relationships with parents, although leaders do not always make sure that parents are fully aware of the differences when moving from the toddler to the pre-school room. Parents do, however, comment that their children develop good communication and social skills and that they are prepared well for the move on to school.
• There is good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. Staff make effective use of the services available to help families, in order for them to share required information with staff in their home language. This enables staff to individually tailor plans for children's care and learning so that the curriculum is ambitious for all. Leaders use additional funding wisely to provide children with extra experiences and resources that support changes in their lives.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the effectiveness of team working to build on staff deployment and awareness of what children need to learn next
• build on the relationship with parents to share more information about when children move to the pre-school room.