Small Wonders Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are warmly welcomed into the nursery. Staff focus on building strong relationships with children, which helps them to settle quickly. Children are happy and interact well together, demonstrating they feel safe and secure in their surroundings. Children are motivated to explore the activities on offer. Babies explore sensory activities. They eagerly scoop up oats and feel the texture with their hands. Older children work together in the garden as they use their imaginations. They discuss how fast their pirate's ship needs to sail to avoid being captured.

Leaders place a high priority on supporting children's communication and language. Children benefit from continuous conversations with staff, who speak clearly. Staff use adult-focused activities to introduce more complex words to build on children's vocabulary. For example, during a cooking activity, staff encourage children to observe what happens to chocolate as it is warmed. They introduce key words such as 'solid' and 'liquid'.

Children behave well. Staff are good role models and are calm and consistent in their approach. Leaders have created spaces for children to go, away from busy areas to relax. Children know the routines of the nursery and expectations for behaviour as staff have a clear and consistent approach. Staff provide children with plenty of praise and encouragement, helping to boost their self-esteem and confidence.

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

• There have been some significant changes since the last inspection. The provider has addressed the actions raised, including those relating to safeguarding. For example, fire-evacuation procedures have been reviewed and means of escape, for younger children and staff, have been improved. This helps to maintain children's safety.
• The provider has given leaders training to support them in their roles. This has helped them improve their management skills and raise the quality of the provision. Furthermore, staff are clear about their responsibilities to safeguard children. They know the processes to follow to report any concerns about children and staff, including how to escalate these to external agencies if needed.
• Leaders know what it is that they want children to learn. They design a curriculum to build on the skills children need to learn next. However, at times, less-experienced staff do not always implement the curriculum effectively. For example, some staff are not consistent in supporting babies' physical development to guide their emerging mobility. This does not help children to make the best possible progress.
• Staff provide an environment where children make independent choices in their play. They provide children with some opportunities to help develop their self-care skills and independence. For example, children wash their hands and older children select their cutlery at mealtimes. However, there are some tasks that staff do for the children which they can do for themselves. For instance, they put on children's coats for them and wipe their noses. This has an impact on children's independence and the development of their self-care skills.
• Children thoroughly enjoy spending time in the nursery's garden. Young children spend time filling buckets with sand. Staff teach older children the importance of spatial awareness as they join in with warm-up exercises before riding on the tricycles around the garden. Other children demonstrate persistence and resilience as they play with bats and balls with the staff.
• Staff focus on supporting new children's well-being and confidence as a priority. They use signs, gestures and simple words to make sure that all children, including children who speak English as an additional language, understand the meaning of words. As a result, new children settle quickly and are comfortable in their environment.
• Partnerships with parents are positive. Parents value the feedback that they receive from staff. They feel that their children are making good progress in the nursery and are cared for by staff, who know them well.
• Staff say that they feel supported and valued by the management team. They receive regular supervision meetings where they reflect on their practice and identify professional development opportunities. For example, staff complete additional training to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This helps to improve their personal effectiveness and improve outcomes for all children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support less-experienced staff to understand how to implement the curriculum effectively so that children make the best possible progress in their learning and development
• help staff to provide consistent opportunities for children to develop their independence.