St Albans Little Learners C I C

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they feel secure and happy to attend the nursery as they smile at staff, and their friends welcome them with a 'good morning'. Children understand what staff expect of them as they place their belongings safely on their pegs. Staff plan and implement an ambitious curriculum that is designed to give all children the skills, knowledge and understanding that they need for their future learning. All staff are ambitious for children to become independent, confident, curious learners. Staff are very caring and provide a calm, reassuring approach for children. They focus on nurturing children's well-being and encourage them to share and play cooperatively. Staff act as positive role models as they calmly interact with the children and use praise to celebrate achievements. This contributes to supporting children's self-esteem and confidence and supports them to try new experiences.

Children are developing physical skills as they dig with spades, ride, run and balance outdoors. They collect leaves with their rakes and empty them into buckets of varying sizes. Children develop their core strength as they practise large arm movements while drawing on chalkboards. Staff deploy themselves well to ensure that children are supervised effectively, and so that they can build on the learning that they see taking place.

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

• The curriculum is carefully sequenced from the baby room through to pre-school to extend what children already know. Staff use children's interests to plan learning experiences. As a result, children confidently lead their own play, choosing where and what they want to do next. Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning and make good progress. Staff accurately assess children's progress and plan engaging activities to encourage good achievement in all aspects of their learning.
• Staff and children are aware of the main routines of the day. However, there are occasions when some routines are not organised well enough. Younger children spend time waiting for their packed lunch to be prepared. This does not always keep children actively engaged in learning. As a result, they become distracted and miss opportunities to participate in high-quality interactions with staff. Their listening and attention skills are not fully supported at these times.
• Children are encouraged to be independent from an early age. They have opportunities to make independent choices, select the resources that they would like to play with and develop their own ideas about how to use them. Toddlers learn to wipe their noses and dispose of the tissues. Pre-school children spread butter on their toast, get their drink from the dispenser and conscientiously tidy their things away.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are very happy with the nursery. They say that staff communicate well, and they feel informed about their child's time in the setting. Parents receive updates on their child's progress. They report that their children are happy and excited to come to the nursery. Parents comment that children are well prepared for school when the time comes.
• Children's understanding of mathematics is developing well. Staff teach children mathematics using fun and exciting methods that enable all children to be fully engaged in learning. For instance, children collect pom-poms with tweezers and count them as they place them into the container. They discuss 'full', 'empty', 'over', 'under', 'more' and 'less'.
• Each room has a book of the month and children become familiar with stories, joining in with the familiar refrains, such as in the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Overall, the staff read stories with enthusiasm and skill. These early experiences help children to develop a love of books. Pre-school children listen with interest and share their predictions about the story. However, not all staff adapt their teaching to support the youngest children. For example, babies and toddlers are expected to sit and listen to stories with limited opportunities to join in.
• Staff promote children's health and well-being. Children enjoy daily fresh air and exercise in the nursery's outdoor space. Leaders work with parents to promote healthy lunch boxes. At lunchtime, staff and children sit together and chat about the food in their lunch boxes and how it helps them to be healthy and the importance of drinking water regularly.
• Leaders recognise the importance of regular professional development and work in partnership with the local authority to plan relevant training. They provide staff with supervisory sessions and feedback on their overall practice. Leaders and staff clearly enjoy their work and have considerate, positive relationships with each other, children, and parents.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider the organisation of some daily routines to ensure that children are not waiting for prolonged periods and get the very best from their learning
• support babies and toddlers to join in during group activities to help them make the best possible progress in their learning.