Smarties Private Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate secure attachments with staff. They leave parents at the door confidently and settle quickly. Children show positive attitudes to learning and join in with planned activities eagerly. For example, babies display a love of song time. They are keen to sit with staff and take turns to pull out items from the song bag. Babies remember which song links to their item. They join in with the actions to the song energetically. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. Children use good manners. They say 'please' and 'thank you' readily during daily routines. Children are developing the skills they need in preparation for school. They are confident to do things for themselves. For example, they make choices about their play, take off their own shoes and wash their own hands.

Children are developing their small-muscle skills. Babies persevere as they use keys to open locked boxes. They beam with pride when they succeed. Toddlers concentrate as they build a tower of bricks. They laugh as they knock it down before building it again. Pre-school children wash and scrub underpants in the water tray. They peg the underpants on the washing line carefully. Children develop social skills as they talk about a popular storybook where funny aliens hide in pants. They show kindness as they help each other with the 'tricky' pegs.

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

• Staff support children's language and communication development well. For example, staff tell babies it is snack time. Babies make the sign for snack excitedly and say 'yum, yum'. Toddlers pretend they are taking the dolls swimming. Staff extend on this and encourage them to talk about their swimming costume. Pre-school children make potions with water and powder paint. Staff ask children how they have made the different colours. This helps children to share ideas and practise their conversational skills.
• Staff show genuine affection and care towards the children. They teach children what is expected of them during daily routines and activities. Children are polite and take care of others. For example, babies and toddlers know they must knock before entering rooms. They know this is so they do not hit one of their friends on the other side. Children are praised for their positive actions.
• Staff know the children well. They know what they want children to learn next and they understand how to build on what children already know and can do. For example, pre-school children are learning about two- and three-dimensional shapes. However, occasionally, staff do not fully consider what it is they want children, as individuals, to learn. Some opportunities are too challenging for some children. Therefore, children start to lose focus and leave the activity.
• Staff support children's physical development well. For example, babies bend down behind tree trunks as they play hide and seek with staff. Toddlers jump and hop with glee as they pretend to be bunnies while staff sing to them. Pre-school children walk carefully across a balance beam as staff provide words of encouragement. They develop confidence as they negotiate walking up and down small ramps safely. This supports children's muscle strength and coordination skills.
• The nursery provides healthy and nutritious meals and snacks for children. Staff encourage children to wash their hands before meals and provide access to fresh drinking water. They use mealtimes to help children to understand the benefits of eating well.
• Overall, staff support children to develop an understanding of what makes them unique. Pre-school children bring in photos of their families to display. They talk to each other about their families and pick out their friends from the photos. However, staff do not always use children's individual names when speaking to them. For instance, boys are often referred to as 'buddy' and girls are referred to as 'babe'. This means that children are not always recognised as individuals.
• The manager has high expectations for the setting. She reviews and evaluates practice to strive for improvement continuously. The manager and staff work effectively in partnership with parents on all aspects of children's learning and care, including school transitions. Parents speak highly of the setting and are aware of the progress their children are making. Parents feel that their children are ready for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• differentiate planned activities and interactions further to ensure that the individual developmental needs of all children are met
• ensure that children are recognised as individuals and referred to by their name.