Smarteenies Day Nursery and Out of School Provision

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children at this setting are happy, safe and emotionally secure. They thrive in this environment. Children are motivated to learn. They respond well to the positive encouragement and praise from staff for their achievements, for example when they play a game to guess colours and shapes.

Children show enthusiasm and excitement in their various activities. They behave well and play cooperatively together. Children are developing excellent language skills. For instance, they are confident in expressing their ideas and respond quickly to questions asked by staff during play. Children learn to count with confidence and can recognise numbers and shapes. Older children are beginning to write the letters of their names. This helps to prepare them for school.

Children are active learners. They enjoy riding wheeled toys, climbing and balancing on play equipment outdoors.

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

• Leaders and staff set high expectations for children's learning. Staff use visuals, props, books and phonics to encourage children to recognise words, letters and sounds and extend vocabulary. For example, the manager has developed a series of interactive stories and a learning pack that promote children's communication, language and literacy skills. Children take books home to share with their parents and are supported by staff to understand home learning.
• Staff work closely with parents and frequently share information regarding children's learning and development. They use an online app to keep parents informed about children's care routines, progress, what they need to learn next and how parents can support learning further at home. Parents use the app to communicate with staff and share pictures of their children's home lives, 'wow' moments and routine information.
• Staff carry out regular observations and assessments and use the information well to identify gaps in children's learning and to plan for their next steps. As a result, children make good progress. The setting provides additional resources and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those in receipt of early education funding.
• The management team provides staff with regular meetings to discuss children's progress and supervision meetings to identify training needs. Managers provide staff with training to develop their practice. However, on occasion, these processes are not sufficiently robust to identify minor weaknesses in staff's teaching. For instance, some staff are not always quick to give support to younger children and those with SEND.
• Staff talk to the children, listen to what they have to say and ask questions during play to help children think and learn new information.
• Staff implement good hygiene routines. They clean the tables and ensure food is prepared in a hygienic manner. Staff encourage the children to wash their hands before eating and explain why they need to do so.
• Children show delight when playing in the garden. They are developing good physical skills. For example, they confidently ride tricycles and climb different play equipment. Children engage in specialised sporting activities weekly to stay active and acquire essential skills for future learning.
• Children behave well. Staff carefully and gently explain the consequences of children's actions on others. They encourage children to play well together and teach them how to resolve minor differences. This helps children learn how to negotiate and consider others' feelings and interests.
• Parents speak very highly of the staff team. They say that when they leave their children at the setting, they feel happy and do not worry.
• The curriculum is ambitious and leaders are knowledgeable about what they want the children to learn. Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to engage in a wide range of stimulating and interesting activities. Children can easily access the resources they want, which help extend their play and learning in all areas. This helps to build children's confidence and independence.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the supervision and training of staff to address minor weaknesses in their teaching, particularly how to support children who have speech and language difficulties.