Smiley Kidz Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery happily and are ready to play with a wide range of resources. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure as they independently make choices of activities at the start of the session. The staff ensure that children practise their social and communication skills as they sit at a large table together for a snack. Children are encouraged to chat about the foods they eat and how they help them be healthy and strong. Staff also talk to children about how they are feeling and why. Children willingly help to tidy away when they are finished. This sociable time is an example of how staff promote children's physical and emotional well-being and independence throughout the day.

Books, stories and rhymes are used extensively by staff to support the development of children's communication, language and early literacy skills. Children show that they listen and remember as they enthusiastically recall a story about three little pigs. They excitedly join in as staff tell the fairy tale, pretending to huff and puff like the wolf. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress. They gain the basic skills they need for the next stage of learning.

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

• Staff plan activities that hold children's interest well. For instance, children concentrate and develop their small-muscle skills as they create models of houses using straw, sticks and bricks. They learn to handle tools, such as scissors, as they cut up straw for their creations. The staff talk with children about the different homes they live in and what they might be made of. This helps children to understand more about the world around them.
• Staff support the children's independence skills. On entry, children learn to hang up their bags and coats and find their photograph and name card to add to the display alongside their friends. They learn about the routines they need to follow and are helpful towards each other. For example, at snack time, children hand out plates and serve themselves cucumber, carrots and hummus using spoons.
• Partnership working with parents is strong. Parents say that they know about children's experiences and developmental achievements. This is because the staff communicate frequently and in detail with them. This exchange of information enables parents to understand how to continue children's learning at home. Staff links with other professionals and schools are well established to support children's well-being and future learning.
• The nursery has a shared and ambitious vision for children in their care. Staff benefit from continuous professional development, mentoring and supervision. Staff interactions with children are good overall. However, the next steps in learning staff identify for some children are not always precise enough to help children build on what they already know and can do.
• The staff skilfully weave mathematical language throughout activities. Young children practise counting to three as they point at masks representing the little pigs. The staff ask them if the pieces of straw for their houses are long or short. They talk about sizes, shapes and colours as children play. This support helps the development of children's early mathematical skills.
• Staff plan activities to support children's physical development. Children play outdoors in the fresh air every day, whatever the weather, wearing appropriate clothing to help keep them warm and dry. They relish running, jumping, climbing, twisting and turning as they complete obstacle courses outside. Inside, children dance to music and join in with vigorous actions to their favourite songs. These activities help children to develop their large-muscle skills, coordination and balance.
• The staff are warm and welcoming to children. They provide plenty of praise and encouragement and model good manners. Children learn to share and take turns during their play. The staff support children effectively to understand what they expected of them. For example, they sing songs to signal changes in routines, such as time to tidy up. They show children real objects, for instance, a bowl, to tell children it is snack time.
• There is a strong focus on the development of children's vocabulary, listening and understanding skills. The staff repeat words clearly for children to hear and remember. They use children's home languages to reinforce understanding while promoting the new words that children need to learn. This helps children to make good progress from their starting points. The staff identify where children need additional help and provide one-to-one activities to help narrow any gaps.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to identify consistently precise next steps that focus on building on what children already know and can do.