Seesaws Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the nursery and settle in quickly to play with their friends. Staff greet children on arrival with warmth. They are kind and nurturing towards them. This helps children to feel safe and secure in their care.

Children have fun and enjoy a range of exciting activities and experiences that are planned for them or are available for them to choose from. Babies experience and feel the differences in the textures when they play with dough and cereals. They learn new words for their actions, such as 'poke', 'press' and 'squeeze'. They learn words for the sounds the cereals make when they crush them with toy animals as staff say 'crunch, crunch'. Older children use their imagination in the garden. For example, they follow a member of staff as they act out and follow the actions of scenes from a familiar story.

Children behave well. Older children are quick to tell staff what they know about positive behaviour. They respond well to reminders from staff. Children learn about how their behaviour can affect other people. Children are keen to be involved in activities and show positive attitudes to learning. They gain the skills and understanding they need to prepare them for their next stages in learning and the eventual move on to school.

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

• The nursery curriculum has clear intentions for what children need to learn and the order in which they need to learn. Staff gather information from parents at the start, to find out what children know and can do. This information helps them to decide what children need to learn next to build on this learning.
• Staff model language and communication with babies well. They ask simple, clear questions and give babies time to respond. Children smile, babble and use words in response. Babies enjoy listening to stories and following the actions of familiar songs, wiggling their fingers to represent stars.
• Generally, older children become confident talkers. They become animated as they speak during an activity with staff. For example, they use eloquent language and well-formed sentences to tell a story together from their imagination. Staff draw what children say at each stage to form a clear illustration. However, there is scope to develop further methods for children who need additional support and are not yet verbal to communicate their needs and wants with peers and staff.
• Children develop increasing independence. For example, babies and toddlers feed themselves competently. Older children manage their own personal care needs, dress themselves and routinely tidy away after lunch. All children confidently access toys and resources that interest them. This is because the environments are well arranged to meet these needs and adjusted as children's needs change.
• Staff promote physical development and health well in this nursery. Children practise their large-muscle skills and coordination in a range of ways. They use swings and slides, run in larger spaces and practise their use of a range of wheeled toys. Children learn about what helps to keep them healthy. For example, they practise brushing their teeth, learn about foods that are good for them and talk about what happens to their bodies after exercise.
• The manager is clearly passionate about the nursery and the work they do to provide children with a broad range of experiences. Staff say that they receive strong support from management in the form of training and consistent guidance, which helps them to continually enhance their practice and the provision for children.
• Effective arrangements for when children transition between rooms in the nursery mean that learning is seamless for children. Staff meet with parents and new key persons to provide updated information, which enables staff to provide well for each child's needs.
• Parents speak very highly of the manager and staff. They comment specifically on the support they and their children receive. Parents say that their children are happy and have close relationships with key staff. They value the information they receive about their children's learning progress and the support to continue this learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build further on methods to enable children who are in need of additional support to develop their communication skills with others so that they make the most progress they are capable of.