Star Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy coming to nursery. They settle quickly and have positive, warm relationships with staff. Young babies enjoy cuddles on staff's laps, which helps them to feel secure. Staff organise the environment and resources attractively so that it engages children in their play and learning. This helps to spark children's interest and encourages their imaginative play. An example of this was when children used dough and spaghetti to make a variety of objects, including lollipops and trees. The natural resources and high number of sensory play opportunities promote children's exploration and curiosity.

Staff have high expectations of the children. Children understand the importance of turn taking and sharing, and this is evident in their play together. For instance, when pairs of children were washing dolls in the outside area, they readily helped one another and took turns to hold or wash the dolls. When children found this challenging, skilled staff guided them with an age-appropriate, empathetic approach. Children are kind to each other. They are beginning to understand the needs of their friends, including being patient. The staff are positive role models and promote this well. For example, when the children were at the 'potion' station, staff modelled how to take turns and share resources. The children then continued these sharing behaviours. Children are developing their listening skills well. They are aware of the expectations of behaviour. The pre-school children demonstrated this during group time, showing respect for each other's views.

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

• Overall, most staff have a clear understanding of the curriculum. They plan for children's learning across all seven areas, considering their individual developmental needs and interests. Generally, staff focus on where children need the most support well. Staff build on what children already know and can do by observing them and speaking with parents. However, some staff are still developing their understanding of some curriculum intentions. At times, this means they do not provide the best possible teaching. For example, on occasion, some staff do not extend on their interactions with with younger children to further support their developing communication skills.
• Managers and staff know the children well and understand their needs. They make effective use of any additional funding to provide specific play opportunities tailored to children's developmental needs, for example climbing apparatus to develop children's physical skills, along with 'curiosity cubes' to support communication and language development.
• The nursery's special educational needs coordinator and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) securely. They identify gaps in children's development and, when appropriate, they make prompt referrals to seek additional support. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to promote a consistent approach. They implement individual education plans for children. These focus effectively on the advice from other professionals about how to best support children's learning and development. This helps all children make good progress.
• Children enjoy spending time in outside areas. They benefit from fresh air and learn to use different types of equipment. Children learn to confidently manage potential risks. For example, pre-school children enjoyed climbing up apparatus and then jumping off safely. Children develop hand strength and coordination. For example, they pour water from containers, manipulate dough and use tongs to pick up and move smaller items. This helps children to prepare for early writing well.
• Staff provide opportunities for all children, including those learning English as an additional language, to develop their communication skills. This is particularly evident for pre-school children, where staff promote a language-rich environment. Pre-school children listen to stories and sing songs. An activity observed during the inspection involved pre-school children finding out information about wild animals. They became highly engaged, using a wide range of language during discussions with the staff member and widened their vocabulary through it.
• Staff report that they feel valued and supported. Managers have a high regard for staff well-being. They implement some good strategies to help them monitor and support staff practice. For instance, staff have appropriate supervision meetings and have access to training. However, the manager's monitoring is not fully effective in identifying areas to develop in some staff's practice, to help improve the overall quality of the provision further.
• Staff encourage children's independence well. For example, older children cut fruit and pour their own drinks at snack time. Staff generally offer children suitable support to help develop their knowledge of good health and hygiene practices. Older children use the toilet and wash their hands independently.
• Partnerships with parents are positive and well established. Parents have a high regard for the setting and staff are very happy with the communication systems in place.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that all staff embed their understanding of curriculum intentions, to support them in enriching their teaching and help children make even further progress
• develop the monitoring of all staff practice to identify effectively any areas for professional development, to further raise the overall quality of the provision.