St Mary's Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Managers want to provide children with a safe and home-from-home environment to play and learn in. They know what they want children to learn and achieve. Overall, staff provide a curriculum which helps children to be ready for school. Children are extremely happy in the nursery. Staff plan the environment to enable children to make independent choices about what they play with. They listen carefully to children's views and opinions. This helps children to feel valued and settled in the nursery. Staff give children regular opportunities to play outdoors in the fresh air each day.

Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff teach them to take turns, share and listen to instructions. They give children lots of praise, and the children show pride in their achievements. Babies spontaneously clap when they succeed in kicking a ball and older children give staff a 'high five' when they complete their jigsaws. Staff provide activities which interest children. This helps children to be engaged in their learning. For instance, children enjoy exploring coloured jelly soap. They practise their hand-eye coordination as they carefully pour it between containers. Older children show care and consideration for younger children. For example, younger children cuddle up to older children when they read them a story.

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

• Overall, staff place a focus on developing children's speech and language. They expose children to stories and singing each day. Staff extend children's conversations and introduce new vocabulary, such as 'float' and 'sink' when children play in the water.
• Staff encourage children's mathematical development during all activities. Younger children learn to recognise and match colours. Toddlers begin to count to three. Older children confidently name different shapes, such as squares, pentagons and hexagons.
• Staff encourage children to learn about events and celebrations in the local community. For instance, they learn about Remembrance Day when there is a local parade. Children enjoy decorating poppies for the nearby shop's windows.
• Staff offer children healthy and home-cooked meals and snacks, who learn to feed themselves. For instance, babies confidently use their fingers or a spoon to feed themselves, while older children learn how to use a knife and fork correctly.
• Staff provide activities which encourage children to concentrate, try and have a go. For instance, younger children work out how to make a water wheel spin. They delight in their discoveries, giggling when they make the wheel spin faster.
• Staff plan many activities to develop children's physical skills. Babies climb confidently across small wooden structures indoors. Outside, toddlers enjoy creating obstacle courses with crates and balancing carefully on them. Older children develop their hand-eye coordination in preparation for later writing. For example, they enjoy using tools and wood to make models.
• Parents are positive about staff and the support they provide for their children. They appreciate the service which the nursery provides. Parents say their children are very happy in the nursery.
• Managers make sure that there is a key-person system in place. Key persons know their allocated children well. However, some staff are unclear about the next steps in development of children who they are not a key person for. This means that they are not able to provide continuity for children or share precise information with parents about what children need to learn next.
• The nursery is inclusive and staff work hard to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff use additional funding to support children, such as by providing additional sessions or resources. Managers make referrals to external professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to provide children with specialist support. However, managers recognise the need to provide greater support to staff to increase their knowledge of how to support children with gaps in their language development.
• Managers make sure that staff attend all statutory training, such as safeguarding, food hygiene and first aid. Staff feel well supported and enjoy working in the nursery. However, managers have not yet focused training on extending individual staff's practice and the quality of education to a higher level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to have a greater understanding of what individual children need to learn next and share this information more consistently with parents
• enhance staff's knowledge of how to help children who need extra support to catch up in their language development
• focus professional development on extending staff's practice and the quality of education to a higher level.