Smilers Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the nursery. As they arrive, they quickly settle to enjoy their morning meals with staff. All children have close relationships with their key persons. They sit together and happily discuss their interests and what they have been learning at nursery. Children behave well and know when it is time for eating, resting and playing. They enjoy learning from a broad range of interesting activities. Outside, their play is collaborative as children enjoy dancing together, singing in different languages, planting herbs and growing sunflowers. Children enjoy learning about people who can help them, such as through visits to the fire station. They curiously explore texture and form during messy play, describing spaghetti as 'sticky'.

Staff encourage children to refer to themselves and others in positive ways. Children enjoy singing multilingual songs and learning about cultures other than their own. Children are confident and independent. Older children pour their own water to drink and younger children drink from open cups. They eagerly tidy up and accommodate the transitions through the day well. Staff use every opportunity to promote children's language. As a result, children express themselves well and use more complex vocabulary in their play and learning.

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

• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are supported well at the nursery. This is because the manager ensures that staff have a shared understanding of any agreed strategies to support individual children. Staff follow parents' and external professionals' advice closely. Hence, children make good progress from their starting points in learning and reach their identified targets.
• The promotion of children's language is a particular area of strength across staff's practice. Staff consistently narrate children's actions. They clearly emphasise key vocabulary and say new words as children play and explore. As a result, babies quickly move from pointing and babbling to saying words and short phrases. They learn to name colours and count from one to three as they mark make and stack blocks. Babies enjoy their sensory exploration. They happily splash, swish and pour liquids during water play. During song times, babies excitedly shake their percussion instruments to accompany staff singing. They eagerly join in with simple action songs.
• Staff are committed to including all children in activities. They sensitively address children's misconceptions about any differences between themselves and others through age-appropriate discussions. This helps children to value what makes themselves and others special. Children enjoy joining staff in regular singing sessions and dancing to Portuguese folk songs. Older children gather each morning and begin their circle time by singing welcome songs in different languages.
• Parents are very happy with the quality of care which their children receive at nursery. They say that their children quickly make progress and learn skills that will help them when they start school.
• Older children enjoy learning about nature, for example why coffee can enrich soil to help plants grow. They knowledgeably refer to re-potting seedlings as 'transplanting'. Children learn to count, recognise their name and learn the letters of the alphabet.
• The manager is approachable and very supportive of her staff team. She monitors their practice closely. The manager's supervision procedures are robust, enabling her to identify individual staff's strengths and areas for professional development. Staff receive recognition for their contributions through initiatives, such as 'employee of the month'. Staff feel happy at work and say that their workloads are manageable. The manager has successfully built a cohesive team.
• The manager ensures that staff have a thorough understanding of safeguarding practice and procedures. She makes sure that they have opportunities to share their knowledge by completing questionnaires regularly. Staff are deployed well across the nursery. They are vigilant and remain aware of children's whereabouts at all times. However, not all staff have a full understanding of all of the nursery's most up-to-date policies. This is because the manager has not shared these with all the staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• share the nursery's updated policies with all staff so they are all familiar with the current procedures at work.