Sally-Anna's Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and settled at the nursery. They are greeted at the door by warm, friendly staff. This helps them to feel safe and secure. Children leave their parents happily with big smiles on their faces. Parents think that the nursery is a 'homely, happy, full of hugs' place.

Children enjoy exploring the indoor and outdoor environments, developing many new skills and increasing their independence. The role-play home corner is a very popular place to play. Children enjoy exploring real-life resources such as telephones, crockery, food and perfume bottles. They laugh and squeal with joy. Staff are very attentive to children's needs. Children develop good relationships with each other and all of the staff, including their key person. They follow the rules and routines well and play together harmoniously. This ensures the nursery is a calm, happy place for children to learn.

Children's interests are considered during play-based activities such as making habitats, dinosaurs and water play with Incy Wincy Spider. This helps to motivate and excite children to learn. Staff have identified that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on children's speaking and listening skills, as well as their personal development. As a result, children benefit from many opportunities to practise their communication and social skills.

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

• Leaders show great passion and determination to give the children the best start in their learning journey. They recognise the importance of continual staff development and have provided training to enhance staff's communication skills. This has enabled staff to support children's language development effectively.
• Although leaders are clear on what they intend children to learn, some staff are unsure of how to implement this in practice. For example, while managers' intentions are for children to learn how to use cutlery and to think critically, this is not consistently implemented by all staff.
• The curriculum is designed around children's interests. Overall, staff know what children can do and what they need to learn next. They observe children as they play. This enables them to identify any emerging gaps in children's learning and plan activities to ensure they make good progress.
• Staff provide the children with rich experiences during their visits to the park, walks down the canal and trips to the library. This helps children to develop their knowledge of the wider community and the world around them.
• The provision for children with special educational needs/and or disabilities is a strength of the nursery. Staff work closely with a wide range of outside agencies to ensure that the unique needs of all children are met. Together, they set individual targets that help to ensure that all children make good progress.
• Good hygiene practices are modelled and consistently encouraged throughout the nursery. Each room has a 'snuffle station', which comprises of a box of tissues, hand sanitiser and face cloths. As children develop, they become more independent at managing their own hygiene. For example, staff sing songs to the babies as they clean their hands and faces, which they giggle with delight to. Pre-school children clean their own faces independently after lunch using a face cloth while looking in the mirror.
• Staff support children's communication and language development effectively. For example, children delight in sharing stories with staff outdoors. As they read, staff make links with children's previous experiences. They skilfully introduce new words such as 'frequently' when discussing the importance of a character's good dental hygiene. This helps to enhance children's understanding of language.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery. They praise the staff's professional, caring attitude, and the progress their children make. Parents value the communication they receive both online and during daily face-to-face conversations at drop-off and collection times. They feel that their children are supported well and are very happy to come to nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to understand and consistently deliver what leaders intend children to learn.