Springfields Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident in this welcoming nursery. Staff provide an environment where children feel safe and secure. They take the time to get to know the children and their families, celebrating what makes them unique. This helps them to build strong bonds with their key children and their families.

The manager plans and sequences the curriculum to focus on the skills that children need for the next stage in their learning. For instance, a range of activities and resources are provided to help strengthen children's small hand muscles. Children follow instructions from staff, who give them timely reminders about routines, such as tidying up for lunch. This helps children to develop positive attitudes to their learning. Additional funding is used well to ensure that children who need further support get the help that they need. For example, the nursery has purchased additional resources to support home learning.

Staff use their knowledge of what children enjoy, organising the environment to meet children's needs. For example, they understand that children are motivated to learn when there are resources that support their interests. As a result, children demonstrate high levels of curiosity and concentration. For instance, young babies spend extended amounts of time, given their age, exploring magnets and discovering how they stick to other toys.

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

• Staff plan a range of activities to encourage children to be physically active. This supports children's well-being and physical development. For example, children have free-flow access to the outside environment, where they begin to manage risk as they negotiate the outside climbing apparatus. Other children work together to rake up the leaves in the garden. Inside, children dance to music and engage in action songs with their friends. Young babies hold the hands of their familiar adults as they start to learn to walk.
• Staff promote children's independence well. Young children demonstrate resilience and perseverance when tasks are challenging. For example, they remember the sequence which they have been shown to flip their coats over their heads to put them on themselves. When they do not manage this first time, they practise repeatedly. Staff provide support at just the right time to help children achieve their goals. Children demonstrate pride in their achievement and staff praise their efforts, helping to boost their self-esteem and confidence.
• Children generally behave well. Staff support children to take turns and share resources. When children have minor disagreements, staff remind them of the rules of the nursery, such as remembering to use 'kind hands'. However, on occasion, some staff are not consistent in helping children to understand how their behaviour affects others.
• Staff focus on building children's communication and language skills. They talk with children about what they are doing and link words to actions. For example, children mix ingredients together during an activity. Staff put words to their actions, such as 'mix' and 'stir'. Children enjoy both looking at books independently and sharing them with an adult. As a result, children are confident communicators.
• Children learn the importance of good hygiene practice from an early age. Staff provide timely reminders to children to wash their hands at appropriate times. Babies are encouraged to pull to stand at the low-level sinks as they wash their hands before they eat. Older children independently wipe their own nose and dispose of the tissues.
• Parents speak highly of the staff. They commend the excellent communication they receive both through the online platform and the daily feedback from their child's key person. They are aware of what children are learning in the nursery and how they can support their children to continue this learning at home. Parents comment how happy their children are to attend the nursery. They state that their children 'flourish' in the nursery's care.
• The manager carries out regular supervision meetings with staff and observes their teaching practice. She provides valuable feedback to help develop their practice. However, at times, staff lack the confidence to implement the curriculum consistently to support children's next steps in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently support children to understand how their behaviour affects others
• support staff to help build their confidence in implementing the curriculum, including children's next steps.