Scallywags Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have close bonds with the caring staff and settle quickly on arrival. They feel safe and this supports their emotional well-being. Children are happy and focused on the activities offered. They laugh together as they play with the toy farm. Babies are given cuddles with their favourite teddy as they snuggle into the attentive staff. This reassurance means babies feel confident to explore their surroundings. Children learn about the wider world through activities such as helping collect for the local food bank. Children with additional needs are well supported. All children join in with singing, dancing and the actions to songs, such as 'Incy Wincy Spider'. Children enjoy familiar stories. For example, toddlers listen to 'The Gruffalo' book as they join in acting out the story with puppets. Children listen closely to staff. They know the expectations at lunchtime, patiently waiting for their turn to wash their hands. Children are learning to be independent, such as collecting their own knife and fork and drink at lunchtime. Older babies sit to the table and are encouraged to feed themselves with a spoon and fork. These routines teach children to become increasingly self-sufficient. Children enjoy physical play, such as running on the large, grassed area and enjoying the fresh air as they watch the aeroplanes go by.

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

• Staff work closely with parents. Parents feel supported with helping their child to learn at home. For example, children borrow books to share with their families. Parents are informed about their child's learning through frequent information-sharing and regular meetings. This means that children's learning is complimented.
• Children follow instructions well. For example, they listen as staff explain that they need to save some rice cakes for their friends. Staff encourage children to use good manners, such as saying 'please' and 'thank you'. However, toddlers are not always encouraged to sit to the table for snack and end up huddled around a table to eat. Furthermore, babies wander and crawl, holding on to beakers of water. They are not encouraged to sit down to drink. This means children are sometimes not sure of what is expected of them.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported because staff swiftly recognise when they are struggling with their learning. Staff take extra time to teach their first words. For example, they say ' tap, tap' and 'on top' as they build bricks together. Staff work closely with families and other professionals to support children in their development. Staff adapt activities to suit the child's needs and interests. This means children make good progress.
• The leaders know that, following the COVID-19 pandemic, developing children's speech and language are a priority. Staff plan activities that will build on children's vocabulary. For example, staff use words such as 'dentist' and 'dentist chair' as the children pretend to look at the doll's teeth. As babies pull coloured scarves from containers, staff say the colour names and 'fall' and 'last one'.
• Children engage with interest in the activities on offer. They talk about 'happy' and 'sad' faces as they make spiders with clay. However, occasionally, other activities are not suitable for the developmental stage of the children. For example, the planned writing activity is too advanced for some children who have not yet gained the skill of holding a pen correctly.
• Leaders ensure professional development of staff, and their mental health and well-being, are highly supported. For example, staff have an anonymous 'guardian angel' that gives out random acts of kindness. This promotes their well-being and means that staff are enthusiastic and well-motivated when working with the children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• reorganise drink and snack times for babies and younger children so that they know what is expected of them and their good health is promoted
• provide activities that are consistently relevant to the children's developmental stage and sequenced to promote their learning, with particular regard to mark-making activities.