Saplings Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy to attend this nursery and display a positive attitude to learning. Children know the setting's established routines and form strong relationships with staff, who in turn support their emotional well-being, self-esteem and resilience. Children navigate with ease and confidence around the nursery, choosing activities that spark their curiosity and excitement. Babies explore a wide range of resources that promote their gross motor skills. They enjoy bouncing on small trampolines and learn to balance as they walk across beams with the help and support of staff.

Children display a great sense of discovery and exploration. For example, they excitedly dig in mud, using tools with good control, to look for bugs. Children then use their knowledge and past experience to talk to their peers and staff about the bugs they find.

Children across all age groups enjoy books and develop a passion for reading. They choose their favourite stories to listen to at circle time and maintain their concentration throughout. In addition, children enjoy singing familiar nursery rhymes, using props and actions. Staff support children's fine motor skills through fun and exciting activities with play dough. They encourage children to explore the play dough independently and teach new concepts, such as rolling, cutting and stretching.

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

• Children have access to a wide array of meaningful activities, organised in separate rooms. This includes a very well-equipped room for supervised physical activities, including a climbing wall. Children enjoy new experiences and good opportunities to develop their growing physical skills, such as balance and coordination.
• Children behave well and follow staff's instructions to stay safe. All children share and take turns with ease, showing good understanding of boundaries. Children are developing their independence. For example, they cut up their own food at lunchtime and pour their own drink with confidence.
• The key-person system is effective and implemented well across the nursery. For example, younger babies spend quality time with their key person when they arrive in the morning. This helps to strengthen their bond and settle with ease.
• Staff have good knowledge and understanding of children's learning. They understand what children need to learn next and use information from their observations of children to guide their planning. However, occasionally, staff do not identify when children need more challenge to extend their learning further.
• Children have good opportunities to learn about nature and the world around them. They have access to a large outdoor space, including a vegetable patch, where they help to look after animals, such as chickens, guinea pigs and snails. Children are inquisitive and eagerly dig in the mud. They fill and empty buckets with sand and look for bugs in the forest school provision.
• Staff support the children to consolidate their prior knowledge and experience by encouraging them to remember what they already know, and they then build on this knowledge. Staff engage in meaningful conversations with the children about what happened the day before or earlier on in the day. However, at times, staff do not engage all children in challenging conversations, particularly the younger children, to develop their communication and language skills to a high level.
• Leaders have a strong vision for their nursery. They aim to be a benchmark within their community and to support other childcare providers. Leaders reflect continuously on their practice and always strive for better. They are inclusive and value their team's well-being and professional growth. Leaders organise regular meetings to nurture and mentor new team members, while including the whole team in developing an effective curriculum for the nursery.
• Partnership with parents is effective. Parents comment on how inclusive and supportive leaders and staff are. For example, parents praise how well staff support children's emotional well-being and how effective the overall communication is.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the quality of teaching to provide further challenge that extends children's learning
• help staff to develop their knowledge of how to consistently support younger children's communication and language skills.