Silverdawn Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children with open arms to this home-from-home nursery. Children separate from parents easily and excitedly greet the staff team. Staff know children well and plan activities they know they will enjoy. They chat to children about their home life and show a genuine interest in their weekend. This helps children to feel valued and to form emotional attachments with staff. Staff are positive role models. They model good manners and teach children about the behaviours that are expected at nursery, such as sharing and turn taking. Children understand the rules and boundaries and behave very well.

Staff implement a curriculum that is adaptable and inclusive for all children. During group activities, staff ensure that children who need them, have sensory toys available to help them engage. This supports children to sit for longer periods and builds their concentration levels. Staff recognise when children need more support to help them benefit fully from the curriculum. For instance, at storytime, staff read one-to-one with children who struggle to listen in a larger group. This helps to ensure that all children make good progress from their starting points.

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

• The nursery provides a flexible curriculum that supports children's individual needs and helps them to make good progress. Staff observe children to test out what they already know and can do. They form accurate next steps in learning and implement these into children's play. This helps to prepare children for the next stage in their learning.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective. Staff get to know children with SEND well. They have a good understanding of their individual targets and implement these throughout the day. Staff work closely with outside professionals to ensure children receive the support they need. Children with SEND are very well settled at the nursery and make progress in their development.
• Children have a lovely attitude to learning. They smile and laugh excitedly when staff invite them to take part in adult-led learning. Children show a great deal of patience and resilience when waiting for their turn during group activities. They are learning about the importance of sharing and are kind to their friends. Children are motivated and eager learners.
• Communication and language development is promoted well. Staff talk to children a lot and encourage them to engage in conversation. Children confidently recite songs from memory and copy actions they are familiar with. Staff provide one-to-one support to help those children who do not yet communicate verbally. This helps to ensure that all children can develop their emerging speaking skills and become confident communicators.
• Staff help children to learn about some of the different things that constitute a healthy lifestyle. Good hygiene procedures, such as handwashing are well embedded. Children receive healthy meals and access the outdoors each day. Staff teach children about the impact of different foods on the body, such as carrots support eyesight and meats help muscle growth. This helps children to develop their knowledge of healthy food choices.
• Children demonstrate very good recall and memory skills. Staff encourage children to describe items on the memory board before hiding one away. Children think carefully and follow staff clues to identify which object is missing. Staff use words, such as 'spiky' to help children remember. This helps to extend children's vocabulary and promotes their thinking skills.
• Overall, partnership with parents is effective. Parents attend drop-in sessions and parents evening to find out about what children are learning. They access the online application and receive some information about children's development. However, staff do not always provide parents with key information, such as children's individual targets and how they can support these further at home. This hinders the continuity in children's care and learning.
• The provider places high priority on staff well-being and values the work of the team. However, due to some recent staffing issues, there are gaps in the procedures for supervision and staff development. For example, not all staff know how to improve their skills and knowledge further or access targeted professional development opportunities. Consequently, on some occasions, the quality of interactions and education that children receive are inconsistent across the staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide parents with more specific information about children's individual targets and how they can extend these at home
• strengthen the procedures for supervision and staff development to provide more consistency in the quality of education.