South Hills Old School Nursery Great Cheverell

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this welcoming nursery. They arrive happily and are greeted by friendly, caring staff. Children are keen to explore the well-thought-out activities on offer. Children show high levels of independence. For instance, children pour their own drinks and wash up their cups after snack time.

Children's behaviour is good. They play nicely with their friends and are beginning to share and take turns. Children develop strong relationships with their key person and other staff. They chat happily to them as they play.

Children have lots of opportunities to be physically active outdoors. They enjoy the time they spend outside. For instance, children develop their physical skills when they ride tricycles. They demonstrate good balance and control.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents leave their children with staff at the main entrance to the nursery. Staff ensure that parents are still aware of what their children are doing. They have implemented a notice board that tells parents about their children's day. Parents comment that this has supported them to talk more at home about children's daily activities.

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

• The manager has high expectations for the nursery. She uses the self-evaluation process effectively to develop the nursery further, to benefit children. For instance, staff have recently spoken with other professionals about how to support children's oral health. They now ensure that children eat fruit as part of a main meal to help to protect their teeth from acid erosion.
• Children become engrossed and concentrate for extended periods at their chosen activities. For instance, children spend long periods exploring a water activity. They show good hand-to-eye coordination as they confidently transfer water between different bottles and jugs. Children carefully peel and cut fruit to use within the water play. However, staff plan consecutive group activities that children have to take part in. As a result, some children become restless and want to play with other things and are not fully engaged in their learning.
• Staff help children to learn about their emotions effectively and support them well to ensure they feel secure within the nursery. Staff encourage children to talk about their feelings using stories. They discuss how various colours relate to different emotions and talk about the different things that make them happy, sad and angry.
• The nursery has developed strong links with local schools, helping to support children when the time comes to leave the nursery. For example, the nursery has recently developed a 'pen pal' system with one of the schools. Children draw pictures and exchange these with children in the Reception class.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents speak extremely highly of the nursery. They comment that their children are making good progress and how they feel updated about their children's development. Parents state that the staff are friendly and supportive and that their children love attending.
• The manager provides staff with regular meetings, supervision sessions and access to professional development opportunities. Staff feel well supported in their roles. Recent training has supported staff to develop children's well-being further. For instance, staff have introduced a 'minute of mindfulness', where children focus on their breathing. Staff have noticed that children then use this at different points in the day to help self-regulate their behaviour.
• Staff effectively incorporate mathematics into the curriculum and environment well. For example, as children draw around a toy mobile phone, staff point out the numbers on the keypad and then represent these numbers with their fingers.
• Staff know the children well and talk confidently about where they are in their learning. Staff know what children need to learn next. They are aware of the intention of activities and what they want the children to achieve.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the balance of planned group activities and for those children who can choose for themselves to ensure that all children's learning is maximised.