Scallywags Children's Nursery (Staines) Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in this welcoming nursery. Staff know the children extremely well. They prioritise building strong relationships with the children and their families. This supports staff to plan a stimulating environment that meets the children's interests. Children settle quickly into their chosen play. They seek out their friends and quickly become engaged in a variety of planned activities. Children demonstrate they feel safe and secure in staff's care.

Staff encourage children to use their imagination during play. Children use a breadth of language to describe the things they are doing in their play. Staff interactions are purposeful. For instance, children dress up and pretend to be doctors and nurses. Staff introduce new ideas and language, such as 'stethoscopes'. They role model with the children how they help doctors to listen to a heartbeat saying, 'boom, boom'. This helps children understand about their bodies and the people who help us. Staff plan opportunities for children to be creative. For example, they create autumn collages from the leaves they have collected at half term with their parents. Staff skilfully teach children about the different colours and sizes of the leaves. This builds on what the children already know, consolidating their learning even further.

Staff are extremely positive role models. They help children to manage their feelings and behaviour effectively. Staff speak calmly and sensitively when children need support with their emotions. They use sand timers to let children know when it is their turn. Children are kind to each other and willingly share toys.

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

• The managers and staff have developed a broad and balanced curriculum. They have a good understanding of what they want children to learn. Staff plan individual learning for each child. They identify any children who require further support with their development. This includes children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Staff lead beneficial small-group sessions to develop children's social and communication skills. Staff speak clearly and model language very well. They ask questions as children explore resources, to encourage them to think and discuss their ideas. Children practise their speech as they talk about their characters different emotions, such as happy and sad. However, staff do not always adapt their teaching during activities to fully extend children's engagement and learning. This means some children become distracted and do not always benefit from the intended learning outcomes.
• Staff support children's physical development very well. They help children to develop their small-muscle skills and strengthen their fingers, in readiness for writing. For example, children become engaged in manipulating the play dough. They pat and poke with their hands and fingers as they mould the play dough around the toy vehicles.
• The managers allocate funding to ensure staff receive the right training to support children with SEND. For example, staff use their training to plan interventions to support children's speech and language development.
• Children develop a good understanding of healthy lifestyles. Staff provide a choice of healthy snacks. They sit with children and encourage them to talk about the lunches they bring to pre-school. Oral hygiene is well promoted in the nursery. Children learn the importance of how to brush their teeth properly. The manager shares this information with families to allow them to support children's hygiene routines at home.
• Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. Children display a positive attitude towards their learning. For instance, staff give children fun strategies to support their independence as young children learn to put their coat on. This promotes children's confidence.
• Partnership with parents is strong. Parents say the staff are amazing and their children are always keen to come to nursery. Staff keep parents up to date with their children's progress. Parents explain how their children talk about their friends at nursery and that they are making good progress in all areas of their development.
• Managers' self-evaluation is accurate and identifies areas for further development. The managers implement a programme of supervision and training to help develop the practice and knowledge of staff. However, there is scope to extend and embed the current strategies more widely, to help staff develop their teaching skills and practice to a consistently high level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to flexibly adapt activities, to support children's continued attention and engagement in their learning
• develop systems for monitoring and coaching staff further to focus on improving individual staff practice and providing feedback to support staff in delivering the curriculum even more effectively.