Sherwood Green Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time in this welcoming nursery and make strong progress from their starting points. They demonstrate they feel safe and secure. Carefully planned transitions mean children settle quickly and form close bonds with caring and nurturing staff. They soon develop strong relationships with their peers. They learn to play cooperatively, share, take turns and negotiate. Staff have high expectations of all children and help them to understand what is expected of them. Behaviour is good. Staff support children to regulate their emotions and are calm and patient in managing unwanted behaviour.

Children are keen to learn and experience a broad range of stimulating activities across the seven areas of learning. For example, toddlers enjoy using fruit and vegetables with paint to make prints on paper. They make connections to a story that teaches them about growth, change, and nutrition. There is a strong emphasis on good health, including oral health. Children learn the importance of brushing their teeth during their play. Packs provided by the nursery mean they can continue this at home.

Children develop their understanding of the diverse community they live in and the wider world. They visit the local elderly people's home and spend time playing games, reading stories, and singing songs with the residents. In turn, the residents enjoy afternoon tea in the nursery with the children. Children explore a range of festivals, such as Lohori where they learn about people and cultures that might be different to theirs.

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

• Leaders are passionate and ambitious in their drive for continuous improvement. They link with other settings and are keen to share good practice across the early years sector. Leaders plan an inspiring and well-designed curriculum that sets clear intentions for children's learning. Overall, the curriculum is well understood by staff and on the whole, they deliver high-quality learning experiences for children, As a result, children have positive attitudes to learning and demonstrate high levels of curiosity, attention, and enjoyment. On occasions, staff interrupt activities to carry out care routines for children. This breaks children's concentration and hinders them making the best possible progress.
• Leaders are fully aware of the pressures on their staff and work hard to make sure staff are supported and feel appreciated. Leaders evaluate their practice well. They provide staff with a wealth of training to continually build their knowledge and skills. For example, babies enjoy more tummy time now. From this, staff have found that children develop core strength earlier, so also develop other physical skills, such as sitting and standing earlier.
• Leaders have excellent partnerships with other professionals to keep children safe and ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have every opportunity to make the progress they are capable of. Children with SEND benefit from focused, adult-led activities with a skilled key person that promote their next steps in learning. The nursery uses additional funding highly effectively to enhance experience for children. For instance, children delight in 'Shake, rattle, and boogie' sessions that promote their physical development, interactions, and understanding of music.
• Leaders have superb partnerships with parents. Parents receive a wealth of information to continue children's learning at home. The nursery lending library is used well to support early reading at home. Leaders continually seek feedback from parents and act on their views to drive improvement. For example, leaders provide 'Top Tips' for supporting play, and toilet training. They provided a bigger outdoor space and sensory classes for babies. Parents attend workshops, including a session where parents who have children with SEND can share their worries and strategies for supporting their children.
• Communication and language is a priority for children's learning. Staff help parents understand the importance of supporting children both in English and their home language. Staff promote children's love of familiar rhymes and stories. They introduce babies to simple words, such as apple, carrot, and orange. Staff encourage toddlers to use more words and repeat phrases, such as 'a grey mouse' and 'the tall giraffe'. Staff challenge more able children by extending language into sentences and modelling complex sentences to add details and information.
• Staff help the youngest children to count in their play. Children begin to identify shapes and colours. Preschool children use blocks for building. They use their imagination, solve problems, and try again when things do not work first time. They think about how many blocks they might need and compare sizes. However, staff do not fully support older children to extend their understanding of mathematical concepts, such as time, measure, or position.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adjust the arrangements for carrying out children's care routines, such as nappy changing, so that these do not interrupt children who are highly focused in their play and learning
• strengthen staff's understanding of how to extend children's knowledge of mathematical concepts, such as time and measure.