St Catherine's Independent Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this warm and nurturing environment. They are excited to see their friends when they arrive and settle happily into their learning. Children have exceptional bonds with the staff and readily share their ideas and learning with them. They feel extremely secure with staff, who know them very well. Staff make children's learning fun and chat to them endlessly about the things that they are doing. Children have beautiful manners. They help each other out and work collaboratively together. Children recognise kindness in each other. They decide who needs to put a jewel on the 'kindness tree' at the end of each session. Staff are positive role models and demonstrate to children their high expectations of behaviour. As a result, children understand how to manage their feelings and emotions, and behaviour is excellent. Children are extremely independent and have a real can-do attitude. They persevere to solve problems for themselves.

There is a clear plan to maximise children's learning throughout the environment. Children are immersed in a rich array of resources and learning opportunities, both indoors and outdoors. Here, children expand their ideas and become fully engrossed in their learning. Staff recognise that some children experienced social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. They quickly identify those children whose language and social development have been affected and plan to boost their learning in these areas. As a result, children make excellent progress in all areas of learning and development.

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

• The quality of teaching is exceptional. The extremely knowledgeable staff team seamlessly expands upon children's ideas by building on their interests. For example, a child's interest in space becomes an opportunity for children to make a detailed plan to go into space and, together, they build a cardboard rocket to get them there. This skilful teaching means children become totally engrossed in their learning. This impacts significantly on what children know, remember and understand.
• Staff take every opportunity to talk with children. They skilfully use these conversations to develop children's communication and language skills. Children are developing an extensive vocabulary. For example, they talk about the 'ingredients' in their play dough cakes. A word of the week is threaded into discussions and play. This helps children to use and understand more complex words, like 'pretending', 'estimating' and 'persisting'.
• Staff expertly support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to succeed in their learning. They quickly identify any gaps in learning and use effective strategies to meet individual learning needs. They work extremely closely with parents and a range of other agencies to ensure that the developmental needs of all children are met. As a result, all children make excellent progress from their starting points.
• Staff build great partnerships with parents and carers. Parents report that their children thrive here and cannot praise staff enough. They comment on the outstanding progress that their children make and how they grow in confidence and make friends. Parents say that they know what their children are currently learning and how they can continue to support them at home.
• Children are learning to become responsible citizens. They take responsibility for recycling and learn about protecting the environment. Staff thoughtfully give pairs of children other roles in turn. These include 'snack helper' and 'risk assessor'. Through these roles, children develop a sense of pride in their environment and have a real reason to engage in conversations, follow instructions and work together with their friends.
• Staff use the thoughtfully designed outdoor space and the forest school, as well as external sports experts, to offer children a fantastic array of physical challenges. Children enjoy being outdoors in all weathers. They can describe what they see and understand about the natural world. For example, children know that the worms they find need to go back into the soil. These experiences enhance children's emotional well-being and result in them making excellent progress with their physical development.
• Children have a strong voice. Staff take time to listen to them and develop their questions. For example, children beam with delight as staff follow their interest in the sycamore seeds by demonstrating how the seeds fly. Children then ask more questions and wonder about how other seeds move through the air. Children express their views and contribute to nursery life through the children's council. In this way, children are developing outstanding levels of self-confidence.
• Leaders are passionate about providing high-quality learning experiences for children. They show tireless dedication to the well-being and professional development of their staff team. Staff find creative new ideas through the time that leaders allow them to dedicate to reading journals and accessing learning. This keeps learning fresh and ensures that staff continually reflect on the ambitious curriculum offered to all children.