Roundabouts Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery happily. They are pleased to see the friendly, welcoming staff. They confidently approach visitors and involve them in their play. This demonstrates that children feel very secure and at home in the familiar surroundings. Staff promote children's physical development well. Babies pull themselves to standing and discover interesting toys on a sturdy table. This helps babies to develop core strength and balance. Older children work with staff to build obstacle courses. They try out different ways of moving across the obstacles. This helps children to be ready to face new physical challenges as they grow.

Parents and carers feel really well supported by the nursery team. They say that they never feel alone when concerns about children's development arise. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some children transferred temporarily to the provider's other nursery. Parents report that staff managed the change well. They say that children enjoyed and benefitted from the new experience. Staff are positive role models for children. They work well as a team and this sets a good example for children. Children behave in a friendly way towards each other. Older children negotiate and modify rules for cooperative play. They begin to listen to each other's ideas.

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

• The provider took swift action to remedy breaches to requirements identified at the last inspection. All childcare staff now hold a paediatric first-aid qualification. The qualifications of staff in all rooms meet or exceed the minimum requirements set out in the 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage'. This helps to promote children's safety and learning.
• Overall, the supervision of staff is effective. Staff feel motivated and supported to improve their professional skills and knowledge. However, there are occasions when staff do not know precisely enough what to do to help children achieve to the highest level. The impact is that children do not make the swiftest progress possible from their starting points.
• Managers evaluate practice and make changes that benefit children's learning. They removed high-sided boxes from child-level shelves in the toddler room. Toys are now arranged on the shelves in a more inviting way. This promotes children's choice and independence. Every shelf has a photo of the toys that belong there. Toddlers match the toys to the pictures when they tidy up. This helps to promote their early reading skills.
• Staff generally sequence children's learning effectively. Toddlers put their outdoor shoes on with the help of staff. Older children are proud that they have learned to do this independently. However, some learning is not sequenced well enough. For example, some staff ask children to match numerals to quantities before the children have gained secure counting skills. This does not help children to build step by step on what they know and can do.
• Staff help children to form habits that promote their good health. They make sure that children in the baby room take regular drinks. Older children have ready access to their own water bottles. They know that water helps to keep them healthy.
• Staff help children to extend their vocabulary during routines and activities. For example, they teach children of all ages the words to songs and rhymes. Staff tell babies that lions 'roar' and cows 'moo'. Babies begin to copy the sounds. Older children listen to a popular story. This helps them to learn more words for sounds. For example, the 'tick tock' of the clock and the quiet 'humming' of the fridge.
• Managers form positive partnerships with other professionals. For example, they implement advice from specialist professionals, such as speech and language therapists. Managers use additional funding effectively to support the learning and development of children who receive it. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.
• Parents feel supported to continue their children's learning at home. For example, staff send games home for children and parents to play. Parents like the online app that staff use to record children's daily routines. They welcome the information that staff provide about the menu and how much food children eat. This helps to promote continuity in children's care and diet.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• sharpen the performance targets for individual staff, so that they know precisely what they must do to raise the quality of their teaching
• sequence children's learning even more effectively, so that progress towards the early learning goals is built on really firm foundations.