St Cuthbert's Early Years Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at nursery happy, confident and ready to learn. They are welcomed warmly by friendly staff, who greet children with a cheery 'hello'. Children have access to a wide array of exciting opportunities throughout their day. They freely access a carefully considered environment, and they explore the sand, water and painting activities available. Children are well behaved and polite. Staff have high expectations of children and know how to prepare them for the next stage in their education. They experience stimulating learning opportunities. For example, they use coloured lollipop sticks to make faces in the play dough.

Children benefit from lots of opportunities to develop their physical skills. They have access to purpose-built outdoor play areas, providing them with a range of enriching opportunities to support their physical development. Children take charge of their own risk assessments before playing outdoors; this allows them to understand risks and hazards. Children benefit from daily activities to support their emotional well-being. They talk about their feelings, which helps them to manage their emotions. For example, children read 'The Colour Monster' during key-person time as an opportunity to highlight their feelings. This allows the staff to talk to them about their emotions.

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

• Leaders carefully plan a curriculum that helps children to progress from their different starting points. Staff in each room focus on children's interests to help them learn through play. For example, children in the baby room learn to build towers and climb over the big soft blocks. They develop their muscle strength and confidence as they start to explore.
• Staff provide effective support to children to help them become confident communicators. They encourage pre-school children to express their ideas and broaden their vocabulary. In the toddler room, staff focus on building children's skills, such as encouraging them to ask for help when they need it. Babies enjoy songs and listen very attentively when staff read them stories.
• Key persons know their children well and can talk confidently about their learning needs and next steps in their education. However, staff do not consistently provide opportunities to extend children's learning even further. On occasion, staff have a tendency to use closed questions when engaging with groups of children. They do not consistently allow children the opportunities to think critically, follow their own ideas and solve problems, when posed with a challenge.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are actively included and supported. Staff seek advice from external agencies to find ways of adapting to the needs of individual children. They use additional funding to provide a range of resources that help children to make progress in different areas of learning. For instance, an outdoor classroom provides a quiet area for focused interactions. Children learn to focus their attention and develop their communication skills.
• Children follow good hygiene routines. They wash and dry their hands at appropriate times. They clean their teeth following their morning snack and learn about oral hygiene. However, lunchtime routines are not well organised for some groups of children. For instance, children wait a long time to self-serve their food, and they do not always have the correct cutlery or swift access to water. This hinders children's personal development during this part of the day.
• Children's behaviour is good. They form close friendships with peers, playing together cooperatively. Children are confident and talk positively about themselves. Staff support children to develop their independence. For example, they are encouraged to put on their own apron and put their completed work in their belongings tray. This helps to prepare them well for the next stage in their education.
• Staff are professionally qualified. They speak enthusiastically about their roles and say that they feel valued and supported by the manager. Staff are well supervised and meet regularly with the manager to discuss their professional development. They receive guidance and training to help them improve their skills and knowledge.
• Parents talk about the nursery with pride. They are pleased with the progress their children make. Relationships between staff and parents are very strong. Leaders and managers listen to the views of parents when developing the provision on offer.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of lunchtime routines to support children's personal development further
• provide children with further opportunities to enhance their critical thinking, extend their own ideas and have a go at the challenges posed.