Scribbles Day Nursery Beacon Park

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly into the nursery. The nurturing staff develop loving bonds with the children they care for. This helps children to feel safe and quickly gain confidence. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has led to some families feeling nervous about their child starting nursery. To help them feel more positive, staff invite children and their parent or carer to visit the nursery outdoor area before they start attending.

Children are enthusiastic learners who are keen to get involved with the wide range of activities on offer. They benefit from staff who pay close attention to them as they play. Children hear many new words. Babies are calm and curious. They have lots of fun exploring foam with their whole bodies. Babies join in with staff as they regularly sing babies' favourite songs. They babble as they play. Toddlers look carefully at flowers and create their own colourful paintings. They jump and run excitedly along the soft-play equipment. Pre-school children play together in the school role play area. They carefully watch chrysalides, talking with excitement about the butterflies that are soon to emerge. Children are gentle and caring as they stroke 'Biscuit', the nursery rabbit.

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

• The owner and managers of the nursery speak passionately about early years education. They are highly ambitious, aiming to provide the best levels of care and education for children and families. The owner of the nursery empowers staff to continually improve the service they provide.
• Staff have clear ideas of what they want children to know and be able to do. They regularly observe children and swiftly address any gaps in their learning. Children only move on to the next room in the nursery when staff feel it is the right time for the individual child. Some two-year-old children have benefited from staying in the baby room for slightly longer, to help them to be confident with their social and communication skills.
• Children who speak English as an additional language are quickly learning new words. Staff sing 'hello' to children in a variety of languages and provide an inclusive environment. All children are learning sign language to help them to join in and be able to understand each other.
• Staff benefit from a thorough induction programme. Staff are currently taking part in the Early Years Professional Development Programme, to understand how they can help to improve children's speech and language.
• Staff are skilled at helping children to communicate. Children quickly become confident talkers. Staff use additional funding very well to ensure all children have a wide range of experiences and are developing skills they need for school.
• The nursery stayed open for most of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff worked hard to keep in touch with children who were not able to attend the nursery. They provided families with food packages and gave them lots of ideas for activities to do at home. Staff did 'doorstep celebrations', providing packages and balloons, for those children who were not attending the nursery and were moving on to school.
• More children have started at and returned to the nursery since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are well supervised by staff at all times. However, some activities that involve large groups of children are not as carefully organised to enable all children to remain highly engaged in their learning. This means that some children lose interest or become overwhelmed at these times.
• The owner of the nursery has specialist knowledge of how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She works hard to share her wealth of knowledge with others. Staff work tirelessly to help all children get the high levels of support they need at an early age.
• Partnerships with parents are very strong. Parents speak extremely highly of the staff and appreciate their help and guidance. They say that their children have quickly improved their speech and have learned the valuable skills of how to share and be kind.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the organisation of large-group activities to help all children to be deeply engaged in their learning.