Star Bright Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have a clear vision of what they want children to learn and achieve and have high expectations for all children. Children are happy and enjoy their time at the nursery. Staff spend time talking to parents before children begin at the nursery and at the start of each session to ensure they have up to date and relevant information about the children. Generally, children settle well and get involved in activities that reflect their current interests. When children are upset or tired, staff provide hugs and reassurance. Older children are encouraged to verbalise how they feel. Children confidently approach new people, demonstrating that they feel safe and secure in the nursery.

Staff are positive in their interactions with children. They are polite and respectful to them and are good role models. Staff have implemented positive behaviour strategies. When children need to be reminded about the rules, they explain the reasons behind them. This ensures children understand why the rules are in place and they learn how to self-regulate their behaviour. As a result, children are well behaved. They listen to staff and are kind and caring towards each other. Staff encourage them to share and take turns, offering support and suggestions when required. Staff praise children consistently when they behave positively.

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

• The staff team has recently changed. Despite this, there is an effective key-person system in place. The staff know the children well and provide a curriculum that follows children's interests and next steps. This ensures that all children make progress from their starting points.
• Children's independence is promoted from a young age. Younger children are encouraged to feed themselves and wash their hands before meals. In addition, older children are taught skills such as serving their meals. The environment is set up so that children can engage in self-chosen play, both indoors and outdoors. As a result, children show good levels of independence and confidence.
• Staff support children to develop their communication skills. They play alongside the youngest children, repeating keywords and naming actions, colours, and textures, including 'fluffy' and 'scratchy'. Staff read stories with enthusiasm and ask children appropriate questions about the content, allowing children sufficient thinking time to respond. Older children enjoy looking at books independently and proudly explain the plots to visitors. However, nursery rhyme music plays throughout most of the session, providing lots of background noise. This does not help children to hear the language being used clearly.
• Staff provide a range of interesting activities and experiences for the children. They teach them new skills, such as how to use the instruments. Staff recognise when children are becoming disinterested in activities and act accordingly. Overall, staff interact well with children during their play. However, some staff require further support to raise the quality of their interactions to a consistently high standard.
• The session generally runs smoothly, and children are engrossed in their play. However, the organisation during transition times has an impact on children's engagement. For example, preparation for sleep and circle times are not well organised. This leads to younger children becoming unsettled as they wait longer than necessary to go to sleep. In addition, older children are reluctant to leave their current play to join in circle time activities as they are not well prepared for the transition. This does not promote positive attitudes to learning during this time.
• Staff are inducted well for their role when they begin employment. They have regular supervision sessions and are offered professional development opportunities. The less experienced staff are guided respectfully by the more experienced staff. Staff report they feel well supported in their roles.
• Links have been formed with the local schools. This has enabled the nursery to gain an understanding of the teacher's expectations of children when they start school. The nursery has incorporated these expectations into the curriculum to ensure children are fully prepared for their transition to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to reduce background noise to further support children's developing communication and language skills
• support staff to develop their interactions to raise the quality of teaching to a consistently high level
• enhance the organisation of transition times to ensure that children's needs are fully supported at these times.