Space Station Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arriving at the nursery settle busily into play and activities. They welcome the company of the kind and cheerful staff and demonstrate that they feel safe. Children's early literacy is promoted effectively. Staff select books and stories that interest and entertain children. Their use of lift-the-flap books tests children's ability to remember what is hiding under the flaps. Staff repeat favourite stories and children join in with familiar rhymes and phrases. This gives children practice in saying correctly formed sentences. The nursery has a free library of books for families to borrow. This helps parents and carers to further promote children's enjoyment of reading at home.

Staff know the value of working in partnership with parents. They seek detailed information about children's care routines and development. This helps everyone to promote continuity in children's progress towards self-help skills. Staff know, for example, whether babies have started to eat with a spoon. They therefore have a clear starting point for encouraging children's further progress. Staff know how children learn and this helped to inform a recent review of the daily timetable. Children now have longer, uninterrupted periods of self-initiated play. This gives them time to think, explore and try out their own ideas. It promotes children's positive attitudes to learning.

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

• Managers take effective steps to promote the welfare and well-being of staff. Staff say that they feel valued and this promotes a friendly, motivated atmosphere in the nursery. Managers help staff to develop their professional skills and knowledge. This is particularly evident in the way that they promote the confidence and leadership skills of room leaders. Managers trust and support room leaders to identify areas for development and to make decisions.
• Managers make accurate, manageable action plans that help all staff to improve their teaching. One current focus is to develop staff's use of visual cues that promote children's learning. Staff show children a red card and say 'stop', when it is time for an activity to finish. However, the use of visual cues to support teaching at group times is sometimes inconsistent. This does not promote children's fullest attention and deepest understanding.
• Staff follow systems that help children to transition smoothly from one room to the next as they grow. Staff take children to visit the new room. They pass on information to children's new key person and consult and inform parents. Children encounter similar routines and resources. For example, their familiar name card comes with them. The joined-up approach promotes children's emotional well-being. They settle quickly, ready to learn.
• A well-structured cycle of supervision helps all staff to keep improving from their individual starting points. This is linked to clear expectations that promote consistent practice across the nursery. When children arrive in the role play areas, they see dolls who are waiting to have their nappies changed or are asleep in cots, ready to wake up. This attention to detail helps staff to form habits that promote a high-quality learning environment.
• Staff play and talk with children throughout the day. This helps children to learn new words. Children in the toddler room pretend to be doctors and patients. They draw a life-sized body map and remember the names of different parts of the body. However, staff's interactions with children are, sometimes, less effective. They ask children questions in ways that do not encourage them to think or talk. This does not promote children's language skills really effectively.
• Children's physical development is promoted well. Children have fun spraying water at pretend fires. This helps them to develop strength in their hands and fingers. Children draw circles in the air, quickly and then slowly, at circle time. This promotes their hand-eye coordination. It also helps to extend children's meaningful vocabulary. Children kick and throw balls outside. This promotes their core strength and balance.
• Managers take a conscientious approach to risk assessment. They monitor incidents and accidents and share with staff any learning or changes to procedures. Staff complete and refresh training that promotes children's safety and welfare. They know what to do if they have concerns about the behaviour of colleagues. All staff know and follow routines for safely supervising children who are eating. This helps to prevent incidents of choking.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further develop staff's use of visual cues in promoting children's understanding and inviting their attention
• strengthen techniques for promoting children's speaking and listening skills.