St Gabriels, Gosforth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery is filled with the laughter and singing of happy children. Staff are kind and caring. Their love of their roles shines through in the supportive relationships they form with children. Staff provide consistent praise and reassurance that help children to develop a strong sense of belonging. Children are remarkably confident. For example, they call out they are 'the best dancers' while enjoying some music with their friends. Staff model positive behaviours, such as good manners and respect. They give children clear and consistent boundaries and teach them right from wrong. Children listen, follow staff's guidance and behave well.

Staff provide activities based on children's interests. A simple idea can develop in to a large-scale project. For instance, staff follow children's interest in weather and travel after playing in the snow. Children then visit a travel agent and come back to nursery to make a boat from boxes. Within such experiences, staff weave particular skills and knowledge in that they want each child to learn, based on their observations and assessments. For example, they help children, who need to learn to work cooperatively with others, to negotiate the size and colour of the boat with their friends. Staff use mathematical language with children to strengthen their understanding of size and position. This helps children to build on what they know and can do.

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

• Leaders have developed a curriculum that is designed to give children a depth of knowledge and secure skills to build on when they move to school. However, they overlook that not all staff have a firm understanding of the these aims. Some staff teach skills that are beyond the curriculum and are appropriate for much older children. That said, overall, the quality of education is good and helps children to learn and remember more.
• Strong partnerships with parents and carers help staff to know about children's experiences outside of nursery. They plan ways to build on these. For example, children who mostly travel by car enjoy walking and trips on public transport. Staff use extra-curricular activities, such as dance and yoga sessions, to extend children's experiences further. Families support this too. For example, staff invite parents to come into the nursery to tell children about their jobs. Grandparents visit to read stories to groups of children.
• Staff speak clearly to children and give them plenty of time to respond. They narrate on children's play and involve them in conversations. This supports children's language development well. Staff quickly identify children who need additional support in this area of learning. They use targeted teaching, such as small-group activities, to help children to make swifter progress. Children learn new words and become more confident in speaking.
• Support for children's physical development is a strength in this nursery. Babies confidently explore the room, pulling themselves up onto their feet and attempting their first steps. Toddlers develop their coordination when negotiating ramps in the garden. Older children develop balance and control when riding bicycles. The exercise and fresh air that children have also contributes to their good physical health.
• Babies thrive in the care of attentive staff. Their responsive and flexible approach helps to meet babies' individual needs and preferences. However, the arrangements for older children are, sometimes, more general and do not meet their needs as precisely. For example, there are fixed sleep times for toddlers, who do not all need a lengthy rest. Staff overlook some pre-school children who disengage because they do not have enough confidence to join whole-group activities.
• Routines are considered as valuable learning experiences. For example, staff teach children about nutrition at mealtimes, and children develop independence skills when serving their own meal. However, some parts of the day are not as well organised or well thought out. This means that, occasionally, children become restless when moving between activities or waiting for the next part of their day. Their learning is sometimes disrupted, for example, when staff interrupt their play to take them to the bathroom.
• Children's emotional well-being is a priority for staff. They use books and activities to help children to understand and manage their feelings. They respond instinctively to children's emotional needs and offer comfort and reassurance. This nurturing approach helps children to feel secure and contributes to a positive environment where they can thrive.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen supervision sessions so that leaders are more aware of staff's understanding of the curriculum and are able to support them to strengthen their good teaching further
• take more account of the individual needs of older children when planning for their care and learning
• review routines and activities to minimise disruptions to children's learning.