Sheepwash Farm Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this exciting and stimulating environment. They form close attachments with staff and separate well from parents. Children quickly become involved in a wide range of activities and learning opportunities, both indoors and outdoors, that spark their natural curiosity and passion for learning. Children become confident, independent individuals, eager to carry out tasks for themselves. For example, they put on their own splash suits and wellingtons in readiness for going outside to check how the pumpkins are growing in the adjoining field.

Managers and staff have high aspirations for children. Comprehensive information gathered from parents about their child gives staff an excellent understanding of their child's abilities as they start nursery. Ongoing observations and assessments enable staff to plan a rich and challenging curriculum for all children, which is well planned and takes into account children's interests.

Children are highly motivated and eager to share what they know and can do. Their emotional and social well-being is supported excellently. Individual attention given to them helps them to build close attachments with staff. Behaviour is impeccable. Children are continually involved and immersed in the activities. They understand the importance of taking turns and sharing resources. Staff continually recognise and praise their excellent behaviour.

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

• Managers and staff have a vast knowledge of working with children and their families. They are passionate about their roles and strive to provide the best possible care and learning for children. Managers have excellent support systems in place for staff, and everyone recognises the excellent skills and abilities within the team. Staff well-being is a priority, and they state that they feel valued and included in all aspects of the nursery.
• Robust recruitment and selection procedures are firmly embedded in practice. Regular checks are made to ensure the ongoing suitability of the staff team. Supervisions and appraisals lead to sharply focused professional development opportunities. Regular staff meetings enable staff to share ideas and skills and continually review and evaluate best practice.
• Highly effective partnerships with parents are firmly established. Parents are extremely happy with the care and learning opportunities provided for their children. They feel that communication between home and nursery is second to none, from the daily updates and information they receive through to the online application used by the nursery, as well as monthly newsletters and daily handovers. Parents report that their children are always animated when they talk about nursery and 'can't wait to get there'.
• Children's language and communication skills blossom through the excellent support and experiences consistently available to them. Staff teach in ways that help children to learn. They explore with awe and wonder the world around them and have excellent opportunities to share their own ideas. Children excitedly look for dinosaurs as they walk through the enormous pumpkin patch, looking for footprints and listening for different sounds. They identify that some pumpkins are 'gigantic' and 'enormous', and some are 'lumpy' and 'bumpy'. Children learn about the growing cycle of plants and understand that some pumpkins start to decay if they have not grown properly or been picked.
• Children's health and well-being are supported superbly. They thoroughly enjoy eating freshly prepared, nutritious and well-balanced meals that contain foods which the children have been actively involved in growing. This enables children to see the various stages the foods go through before they get to eat them. Meals are well presented, and children enjoy opening pea pods to see what is inside. They delight in watching the corn and potatoes being picked and sent away for processing, only to come back to the nursery ready for them to eat.
• Children spend copious amounts of time outdoors in the fresh air, learning about the natural world around them. They relish watching the farmers sorting the potatoes and moving between the fields in the tractors and combine harvesters. Children's sense of hearing is heightened through the various sounds they hear outside. They identify the sound of an aeroplane, although they understand that they cannot see it because there is lots of cloud, and recognise that a barge is moving along the canal. Children enjoy spending time visiting the pigs, ducks and chicks and watching how they grow.