Shaping Futures

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery extremely happy and willing to learn. Those who are new, eagerly put on their backpacks and leave their parents confidently. Children have a sense of individuality and they develop their unique character. They interact well with staff. Together they look into a mirror and identify their features and talk about their emotions. Staff have the same high aspirations for all children, whatever their starting point. The special educational needs coordinator provides one-to-one activities for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. This helps to support these children to make good progress in preparation for future learning, such as going to school.

Children have a super positive attitude to learning and spend a long time at activities of their own choosing. They develop their hand-to-eye coordination skills when they fill cups with compost and plant beans. They learn technological skills and follow positional clues. They are intrigued that they can make electronic toys move in a certain way. Children have first-hand experiences to learn about their community. They go on visits with staff to the local shops. The local organic grocery shop is where they learn about different fruit and vegetables and the different countries they come from.

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

• The nursery managers are passionate about shaping positive outcomes for children. They are very knowledgeable and extremely supportive of their staff team. There is strong teamwork and managers and staff share the same high aspirations for the children. Children are at the heart of everything they do.
• Managers value each staff member and support their continued professional development. This helps the nursery to retain a responsible, skilled and knowledgeable team, that provides children with very good care and learning experiences.
• Managers and staff have identified a clear curriculum. This is sequenced to build on children's prior knowledge and skills. One example is to ensure children develop a love of stories and books before they leave the nursery. Staff take children to visit and enrol at the local library, so that they can borrow books to take home for their parents to read to them.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language development very well. They skilfully introduce children to complex vocabulary, such as climate, hydrated and enormous. Furthermore, staff have worked hard to ensure that they allow children enough time to think and respond to a question. However, occasionally staff ask too many questions and the children lose interest and do not enter into conversations.
• Staff plan a superb range of imaginative, interesting, hands-on learning experiences, which build on children's natural curiosity as learners and help them learn about the wider world. In one such experience, children begin by using their literacy skills to make a passport. They board a pretend plane and staff serve them water from the 'drinks trolley'. They enter the 'passport control', send their bags through baggage check and walk through a pretend security gate. Once they have arrived at their destination, staff introduce them to exceptionally well-resourced rooms representing different countries. Staff tell children facts about Kenya, Spain, Australia and the Arctic before the children enter the rooms. They then eagerly discover a wealth of resources relating to the country of origin.
• Following the COVID-19 pandemic, managers recognised that there was a rise in obesity and a fall in physical exercise in young children. As a result, they have recruited a sports coach, who offers daily sessions of different physical exercise for the children. This helps to promote a healthy lifestyle.
• Staff consistently reinforce their expectations of children's behaviour. For example, they gently remind children of the 'pre-school promises'. Staff consistently offer specific praise and encouragement throughout the day. Children thrive on these positive reinforcements.
• Parents cannot speak highly enough of the nursery and the staff. They comment, 'We appreciate the effort that goes into caring for the most precious things in our world.' Clever ideas such as the well-thought-out home learning packs allow parents to further support their children's learning and development at home. These highly positive relationships and two-way flows of communication help to secure the children's ongoing progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to refine their questioning skills.