S4YC Bromborough Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provider has created a warm and exciting learning environment where children can grow and develop. Children enter happily and are soon absorbed in self-chosen play and learning opportunities. Their laughter and joy echo throughout the setting. Staff provide a wealth of interesting activities that spark children's interest, such as searching the sand for the hidden minibeasts. These activities help to build a strong foundation for future learning.

Staff interact well with children and give them lots of attention. Children are confident to approach staff when they feel unsure or a little tired. Staff talk to children in calm, soothing voices, which helps them to settle quickly. Children like to spend time with their friends. They enjoy working collaboratively with one another. For example, children offer each other guidance and encouragement as they create the biggest bubbles. Children are polite to their friends and learn to take turns and share their resources. They have a strong voice and make their wishes and feelings known. For example, toddlers seek support from staff to help them to turn the tap on the water urn.

Staff place great emphasis on helping children to be independent. Children learn to see to their own toileting needs and put on their coats and shoes. This helps them to prepare for the next stage in their learning. Children have many opportunities to undertake tasks. They help to sweep up the sand and hay with a dustpan and brush. Ultimately, children have a real sense of pride when they complete their individual tasks.

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

• The new management team has a clear oversight of the setting. There is a strong focus on staff development and well-being. As a result, staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This helps them to provide a good standard of care and education for children.
• The provider places great importance on building effective partnerships with parents. Parents say that they are aware of what their children are learning each day. Staff provide ideas for parents to do at home, such as reading a specific story, to help extend their children's learning.
• Staff enable children to learn new skills. For example, staff demonstrate how to use equipment, such as the flower pot stilts. Children beam in delight as they practise and achieve their goal of standing on the pots. This bolsters children's confidence and helps them to develop a firm foundation for future learning.
• Staff plan ways for children to continually develop their small- and large-muscle movements. They create balance beams, which children eagerly clamber over. Children use tweezers and potato mashers to pick up and mould dough. As a result, children develop confidence in their physical abilities.
• Children love to hear and use new words, such as 'massive' and 'explode.' They giggle in delight as they talk about the bubbles exploding. In addition, children develop an interest in early literacy. They thoroughly enjoy sitting with staff or their friends to read a favourite story. This shared joy of reading inspires children's imagination and creativity.
• Staff are generally confident communicators. However, on a small number of occasions, they do not give children sufficient time to respond to their questions. This creates stilted conversations. This does not help children develop their skills of back-and-forth conversations.
• Staff provide many opportunities for children to learn about number, shapes and measure. Children confidently talk about which is the 'biggest' and 'smallest'. They also use positional language to describe the placement of objects. Overall, children develop a secure awareness of early mathematical concepts.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective. Staff work closely with parents and professionals to ensure children receive the right support. For example, staff follow specific plans created by professionals to support children's learning, communication skills and development. Consequently, children make rapid and sustained progress.
• There are systems in place to help children understand the setting's rules. However, these are not consistently implemented. For example, when children are reluctant to share they are told 'no' and reminded that we have 'kind hands'. This does not help children to fully understand the impact of their behaviour on others.
• Children benefit from a balanced curriculum and develop positive attitudes to learning. However, on occasion, staff are not clear on what children need to learn, how and in what order. This means that some learning intentions are not fully met.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of the curriculum so that they are consistently clear on what they want children to learn
• help staff to understand how to further extend children's growing communication skills
• support staff to have a consistent approach in managing children's behaviour.