Skylarks Nursery School Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery full of excitement and anticipation for the day ahead. Staff greet them with warmth and a smile. Children, including the very youngest, part from their parents with ease. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the care of the staff, who know them so well. Children are highly motivated by both the inside and outside environment that staff provide. They show high engagement and enthusiasm for the learning opportunities on offer. For example, staff support children to place wooden planks and number discs to make an obstacle course. Children quickly become animated, and laughter fills the nursery as children try to balance and jump on and off the beams with their friends. Staff encourage children to keep on trying and praise them for not giving up.

Staff are gentle, kind and loving. They are strong role models for children and set high expectations for children's behaviour. Staff make effective use of strategies, such as a visual timetable, to help children understand what is happening next. This helps support children's well-being and they move confidently between activities. Younger children who will be moving to a different room for the next stage in their learning have a bespoke settling-in period to help them. As a result, children re-settle confidently and quickly and have already formed a firm bond with another adult who will look after them.

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

• A key strength of the nursery is the support given to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and to those children who speak English as an additional language. Staff make sure that any obstacles to learning are addressed and all children have access to a highly effective curriculum. Consequently, all children, including those children who are at risk of falling behind, make very good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders act with integrity. They work tirelessly to ensure that they make timely referrals and engage specialists to provide support for children who need it most. The highly qualified leaders have a strong understanding of children's development and have specific aims and focus for the future of the nursery. Staff well-being is of the utmost priority for leaders. Parents provide extremely positive feedback about the leaders and staff in the setting.
• The quality of teaching that staff provide for the children, particularly those who are younger, enables children to explore and find connections in their own learning. For example, staff follow the interests of children and encourage them to lead their own play. Staff offer gentle encouragement and new vocabulary as younger children engage in sensory play activities.
• Children across the nursery enthusiastically join in a wide range of well-planned, adult-led activities. Generally, children engage well and contribute their own ideas and opinions. However, the organisation of larger group activities that include children of mixed ages and abilities can result in children having different learning experiences. For example, at times the activities are too difficult for some. Consequently, some children occasionally become disinterested or distracted and do not fully benefit from the intended learning. Despite this, children's general engagement during group activities is high.
• Staff support children to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children have access to outside areas, where they can run around with their friends. They have discussions about different types of foods that children bring in from home. Staff are aware of cultural food choices and weave this into discussions. They provide more variety in foods for children to try and enjoy at snack time. Children are competent in their own self-care needs, such as handwashing and going to the toilet.
• Overall, staff are skilled in identifying what children should be learning next based on children's existing knowledge and current interests. They observe what children do and listen to what they have to say and respond with back-and-forth conversations. However, occasionally some staff ask questions which are not meaningful, or do not allow children enough time to respond. As a result, there are times when learning can be incidental rather than purposeful and children do not always get enough time to respond with their own ideas.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the organisation of planned group activities to help all children remain focused and engaged in their learning
• support staff to target their interactions to more effectively extend children's learning.