Sparkles Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager and ready to learn. Staff welcome children and parents warmly at the door. They exchange information with parents to support children's care and learning. Staff are kind and calm with children. They are sensitive to the needs of young children when they are upset. Children receive good physical and emotional comfort when they need it. They quickly learn the nursery rules and are keen to remind their friends of them.

Staff support children's learning and development well. The curriculum provided offers children challenge and stimulates their interests. Children are keen to get involved in the activities on offer and show positive attitudes to their learning. All children enjoy their time outdoors. They practise their physical skills while they enjoy large-scale painting.

Children show kindness and consideration. They notice when their friends seem upset and offer to help them. Children share toys and work together to build a tower. Staff encourage children to share. They deliberately include themselves in group games to model turn-taking. Children learn to make healthy choices. Staff use creative ideas to encourage older children to try different foods. For instance, they provide opportunities for children to make their own pizza to eat. Children learn about growing vegetables.

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

• The new manager is enthusiastic about her vision for the setting. She is keen to continue to improve quality and has quickly formed strong relationships with staff, children and parents. The manager has started to take steps to reduce staff's workloads by reducing unnecessary paperwork to give them even more time with the children. She also has plans to strengthen existing relationships with parents by hosting workshops and coffee mornings at the nursery.
• Staff are supported and encouraged to complete training around their key professional development needs. However, the manager is yet to monitor all aspects of staff's knowledge and skills effectively and identify areas where they may need further support to raise the quality of education to the highest level. For example, overall, children enjoy group activities, and they join in with songs and sing with confidence. However, at times, activities during group-teaching times are sometimes pitched too high and children lose interest.
• Children develop a love of books as they listen to familiar stories. Staff read with enthusiasm, allowing children to join in with words and phrases. They use prompts, alongside reading and singing activities, to promote children's enjoyment. Staff choose a focus story each term. Currently, children are learning about 'The Giant Turnip'. Staff plan exciting activities to extend children's learning through the story. For example, children practise digging out vegetables from soil and pretend to pull a giant turnip from the ground.
• Staff support children to become independent. For instance, they give children choices in their play and at snack time. Children attempt to put on their own coats and collect their lunch boxes from the trolley. Staff provide children with healthy snacks and encourage parents to provide healthy packed lunches. Children learn about good oral hygiene. For example, they practise cleaning giant teeth with toothbrushes and paste. Staff praise children's efforts and quickly intervene when children display unwanted behaviour.
• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has a good understanding of the requirements to support children with SEND. She values working with parents and liaises regularly with them to share information to help their children to reach their full potential. The SENCo completes paperwork and refers to relevant agencies should a child need extra support.
• Staff are good role models. They are polite and encourage children to help. For example, in the toddler room, staff sing a tidy-up song and give children direction as they tidy up with them. However, on occasion, children and staff in the room for older children are unclear about what is happening next. This leads to children becoming unsettled and spending too long waiting for the next part of the routine, such as snack time.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen ways to monitor staff's practice and their ongoing knowledge and skills to further support them to raise the quality of education to the highest level
• support all children further to understand what is happening now and next during their daily routines.