Squirrels Children Day Nursery, Middleton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The dedicated manager and deputy manager have worked tirelessly to address the weaknesses raised at the previous inspection. As a result of their sustained commitment to raise quality, the provision is greatly improved. Children arrive full of smiles and are excited to see their friends. They quickly develop close bonds with their key members of staff. As a result, they separate from their parents with ease and are ready to learn. Staff are good role models and have high expectations for children's behaviour. As a result, children are kind, courteous and respectful to one another.

Staff implement a balanced and sequenced curriculum across all rooms in the setting. This is designed to meet children's individual needs and interests. Furthermore, it builds on what children already know and can do. For example, toddlers use chunky pens to make marks on wipeable boards. Pre-school children use pencils to draw detailed pictures of themselves and others.

Staff plan fun and exciting environments, both indoors and outdoors. In the main, staff interactions with children are purposeful and support their learning. As a result, children are curious and active learners. For example, pre-school children confidently describe the different colours they make as they mix paints with their hands. Toddlers excitedly dig and scoop soil as they fill containers in the mud kitchen.

Staff quickly identify children who may need extra support. The special educational needs coordinator supports staff to design and implement targeted learning plans. These support children to catch up to their peers. All children, including children who receive early years funding, make good progress from their starting points.

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

• The manager and deputy manager are relentless in their efforts to ensure that all children receive good quality care and education. Meticulous attention to staff training, alongside a program of support for staff, has helped to raise the overall quality of education and care children receive. More can now be done to further embed the new systems for staff supervision and mentoring. This will help staff develop their teaching to the highest levels across the team.
• In the main, staff support children's communication and language skills well. Staff use a variety of communication and language tools well to help them assess children's speaking skills. They introduce new words to toddlers, such as 'press' and 'push' as they experiment with dough. Staff encourage pre-school children to talk about their family life and ask some probing questions. These help children to further refine their speaking skills. Some children are now ready for even more challenging questions. This will allow them extend their critical thinking even further.
• All children love books and staff support them to develop a love of reading. Older children quickly gather on the carpet area to sit for story time. They listen attentively to the staff reading. In addition, they demonstrate their understanding as they act out the story with available props, such as masks and soft toys. Younger children find their favourite books and take these to the staff for them to read. Staff encourage children to point out the characters in the book and recite parts of the story. This helps children to extend their recall and memory skills.
• Staff provide children with constant praise and encouragement. As a result, children display high levels of self-confidence and self-esteem. However, some staff are too quick to do things for children that they are more than capable of doing themselves. For example, they pour children's drinks and show them how pieces of a puzzle fit together. This means children are not challenged to extend their independence and thinking skills even further.
• Children develop well in mathematics. Older children confidently match numbers and count out objects. In addition, staff introduce words such as 'full' and 'empty' as children fill containers with water. Staff encourage children to make predictions. For example, they predict how quickly a piece of ice will melt and observe how it changes shape. As a result, children develop an understanding of concepts such as shape and time.
• Children have strong bonds with staff and regularly seek them out for help, comfort and support. Staff help children to understand and regulate their own feelings and emotions. For example, older children describe how they are feeling as staff read 'The Colour Monster' story. Staff use simple hand signs to help younger children understand commands, such as 'stop', 'wait' and 'more'. This helps to limit any frustrations and supports children to adapt their behaviour accordingly and remain calm.
• Partnerships with parents are a real strength of the setting. Parents comment that they are 'amazed' with leaders' and staff's efforts to ensure consistent improvements in the setting. In addition, they say that staff go 'above and beyond' for them and their children. Staff regularly share information with parents about their child's progress and how they can extend this at home. This further supports the good progress that children make.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to embed the new arrangements for staff coaching and supervision to help staff raise the quality of their education practice to consistently high levels across the team
• provide more opportunities for children to have a go at tasks and extend their critical thinking skills even further.