St Edmunds NSCC -

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish at this unique nursery. They are extremely happy and settled. Children are provided with high-quality care in a calm and stimulating learning environment. The supportive and professional team know children very well and children show that they are comfortable in their care. Children enter the nursery and eagerly find their friends and become engrossed in their play. Practitioners work collaboratively with other professionals involved in a child's care, in particular, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, children achieve the best possible outcomes, which helps them to prepare well for future learning and starting school.

Children develop a strong sense of right and wrong. They display excellent behaviour due to well-established boundaries and carefully structured routines. The kind and caring approach, demonstrated by practitioners, is reflected in the children's positive behaviour. Children have impeccable manners and listen intently to each other. They manage their feelings and emotions and self-regulate as they play sociably together. Practitioners calmly settle minor disputes using effective eye contact and gentle reminders. All children develop a strong connection to the community in which they live. They benefit from trips to the local wetlands. They engage in exciting and challenging activities, such as den building.

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

• Practitioners provide an ambitious curriculum that helps children build on previous learning. Children gain a wealth of knowledge and skills. Practitioners meticulously assess children's progress. They use their assessments to plan activities designed to help all children to make rapid progress across all areas of learning. Practitioners celebrate children's unique identity. For example, they use children's home language throughout their day at nursery. This helps to build children's positive self-esteem and confidence.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, practitioners went above and beyond to support children's learning at home and check on their welfare. For example, they provided online singing and story sessions for parents to try at home. Practitioners also visited children at home, delivering books and toys. Children have very strong attachments with their key person and have quickly adjusted back to the nursery routines.
• Practitioners prioritise developing children's speech and language skills. They join in with their conversations, modelling and repeating words. This helps children to hear the clear pronunciation of words. Babies smile and babble as they make marks on paper during stimulating sensory play. Older children express their ideas and use a wide range of words, which shows that their prior learning is well embedded.
• Children make excellent progress in mathematics. They learn in detail about size and position. Young children use trial and error to establish which objects will sink or float in the water tray. Children learn about nature as they grow and eat tomatoes from the nursery's vegetable plot.
• All children develop a genuine love of books and reading. They sit with practitioners and engage in stories that are planned for their age and stage of development. Older children listen to stories and recall what the story is about, demonstrating their excellent understanding. Babies look at picture books and start to name the objects in them. Children have access to a 'lending library' and take books home to share with their families.
• Communication between parents, leaders and practitioners is excellent. Practitioners make time to talk to parents, offering guidance and reassurance as well as home learning ideas. This means that parents are able to continue their children's learning at home. Parents are keen to share how wonderful the practitioners are. Parents feel their children make excellent progress.
• Leaders have fostered a culture of reflective practice throughout the nursery. Practitioners are highly reflective of their practice and strive to improve. They monitor and evaluate the impact of changes to practice to ensure they are successful. Practitioners working towards further qualifications have time away from the children, to complete course work during the working day. This helps to support staff well-being.