Spencer's Wood Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are well supported by friendly staff to separate from their parents. Children that are new to the setting receive warm interactions and gentle encouragement as they become familiar with their surroundings. Staff console children, stay close and offer support with their kind gestures and compassion towards children's feelings. Additionally, the effective key-person approach means that children receive tailored support when they start to help them feel safe and secure. The children's personal, social, and emotional development is supported well.

On the whole, children demonstrate positive behaviours towards staff and each other. They play well with and alongside their friends. The staff are good role models and have created a culture of inclusiveness and respect. Children are learning in a stimulating environment. For instance, pre-school children enjoy planting bulbs ready for spring. They place the bulbs in individual pots and cover them with compost. They increase their small-muscle development in their hands as they use water bottles to spray the bulbs and soil. Staff ask children questions to extend their learning even further. Children discuss that the bulbs need lots of sun and water to grow into flowers. They are learning cause and effect and developing a good understanding of the world they live in.

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

• Managers, leaders, and staff worked tirelessly to make the improvements necessary following the previous inspection. There are robust systems in place to ensure the setting is safe and secure. Managers ensure that qualification ratios are maintained, and staff understand their responsibility to provide parents with accurate records of accidents and injuries. Staff deploy themselves effectively to ensure children are well supervised at all times. This helps keep children safe and supports their learning and development.
• Managers and leaders are dedicated to providing a strong workforce for children and their families. They are focused on ensuring staff are well supported and receive the effective coaching and teaching they need to increase and improve their skills and professionalism. This benefits the care and emotional well-being of the children. Staff share their commitment to developing and to growing within the company.
• The curriculum in place is well thought out and appropriate for the current needs and abilities of children. Managers have provided staff with training and successfully and clearly shared the intention for children's learning. This supports staff to understand what they are teaching children and why. As a result, staff become confident and skilled when implementing the curriculum in their everyday practice and interactions.
• Staff promote children's early literacy skills and interest in books and stories effectively. They sit with children, look at books and read to them in a way that captures their imaginations and interest. Children develop good communication and language skills as they share positive back-and-forth interactions with staff and each other. However, at times, some staff members do not use the correct pronunciation of words when interacting with children. This does not fully support them in learning how to say words correctly as their vocabulary quickly develops.
• The staff are kind and respectful to children. For instance, they gently comfort children as they wake from their sleep and talk to them in a caring manner. This contributes to children's positive behaviours, and they develop a strong sense of belonging. However, on occasions the rules and boundaries that are in place are not consistently reinforced by all staff. For example, staff do not always remind children not to run indoors. At these times, staff do not fully support children to learn expectations and consequences.
• Managers recognise the importance of working in collaboration with parents and other professionals. Parent partnership is of high importance to ensure children receive care and learning that is consistent between the home and the setting. Staff share ideas of how parents can continue their child's learning at home. Additionally, staff offer key milestone bags for parents to take home to support children's developmental stages, such as teething, potty training or helping children and their carers deal with grief.
• The provider failed to notify Ofsted of a significant event as required. However, this does not have a serious impact on children's care or learning. Managers and leaders acknowledge this was an oversight, and they are now fully aware of their duty to notify Ofsted going forwards.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's awareness of the importance of using the correct pronunciation of spoken words
• support all staff to be consistent in reinforcing rules and boundaries so that children fully understand what is expected.