Stanstead Mill Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery's warm, welcoming environment supports children to feel happy, safe and secure. This helps babies and children to settle quickly. Children develop strong emotional bonds, and parents say that staff 'deeply care' for children and the nurture is 'second to none'. Brightly coloured resources and books capture children's interests and promote meaningful conversations. Toddlers hold pictures of vehicles to talk to staff and their friends about their favourite vehicles. While talking to others, toddlers are full of enthusiasm and animation as they recreate their favourite vehicle sounds. Older children talk to visitors in depth about their drawings and imaginary games in the role-play area. Outside, children sponge paint rainbows on the wall while singing the rainbow colour song.

Staff promote children's independence skills, for example by encouraging them to clear their own plates and wash their hands, and provide support when needed. Babies develop resilience to setbacks as staff support them to build brick towers and praise them for their persistence. Children listen and respond well to adults' requests, such as when it is time to finish an activity. This helps children to develop concepts of time. Staff also respond positively to children's requests, such as repeating stories and songs. This demonstrates the positive relationships and mutual respect established within the nursery.

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

• Leaders work well with schools and other settings to aid transitions and provide continuity of care. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported to make good progress in their learning and development.
• Staff feel well supported by leaders and managers and report a healthy work-life balance. This is due to staff's confidence in the leadership team and flexible working arrangements. Staff receive regular supervision, ongoing peer support and training opportunities. This supports their continuous professional development well.
• Although children behave well, some expectations for their behaviour are not carried out consistently by all staff. For example, rules around the use of outdoor resources are enforced by leaders but not by other staff members. As a result, not all children demonstrate a firm understanding of behaviour expectations as they are not consistently applied or fully explained.
• During small-group activities, there are times when the most confident children dominate the discussions. Staff do not always recognise when quieter children have not had the same chances as others to share their thoughts and what they have learned. This means that some children do not always have the opportunity to develop their confidence and self-esteem to speak in a group.
• Staff know how to plan enjoyable and appropriate activities based around children's needs and interests. They also incorporate specialist educational programmes into daily activities to boost children's development and broaden their learning experiences. Staff use their professional knowledge well to assess children's learning and plan what they need to learn next. Parents feel well informed and regularly updated about their children's progress and achievements.
• Across the nursery, staff develop children's literacy development well. Babies sit comfortably on their key person's lap, babbling happily as they share a story together. Toddlers eagerly call out 'read it again' when their favourite story comes to an end. Additionally, toddlers express their delight by exclaiming, 'I love this one.' Pre-school children access cookery magazines in the home corner and refer to them during their play as 'food books'.
• Staff encourage children to recall the knowledge and skills they gained from previous learning experiences, such as blackberry picking. Then they extend children's learning by providing blackberries in the mud kitchen to promote further discussion and exploration. Staff also remind babies of the purple flowers they saw during their walk when they see the colour in a story. Photos of children and their families at home are displayed throughout the nursery to promote children's sense of belonging.
• Leaders work in partnership with local services to access training and support to raise teaching standards and improve children's outcomes. Leaders are highly committed to supporting staff's mental health and well-being and provide multiple sources of support. Leaders also support parents to increase their knowledge and understanding of how to support children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consistently apply behaviour management strategies to support children's deeper understanding of what is expected of them
• review the organisation of small-group activities to support all children to express their ideas and develop their confidence to join in.