Stars Day Nurseries Ltd t/a Shooting Stars Pre-School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children into this nurturing and child-centred environment. Children get off to a strong start with a healthy breakfast before they go off to explore the many enticing and exciting activities. Staff's organisation of the indoor and outdoor environment provides a highly stimulating learning space for children. Children confidently mix colours with paints to create their camouflaged frog pictures or use planks of wood to decide if something is 'taller' or 'shorter'.

Children's learning is an immersive experience at this outstanding setting. Staff plan many activities to reflect the intention of the week. For example, when staff want children to learn the colour green and the star shape, they encourage children to children make wands with green paper stars and decorate them with leaves. Children demonstrate their imaginations as they use tiny scoops to deliver the frog his 'green rice breakfast', counting each scoop carefully as they pour.

Staff are exceptionally caring and role model kindness to all. They demonstrate the behaviour that is expected. Staff carefully explain the 'golden rules' to children. They place visual examples of these at child height around the setting. As a result, children behave exceptionally well. They demonstrate cooperation in their play, taking turns and sharing. Staff gently remind children of their golden rules when needed. They praise children using the same language as the rules to ensure consistency.

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

• Managers have created a highly ambitious and challenging curriculum that is clearly well embedded in the setting. Staff use the curriculum to plan interesting and motivating activities that incorporate children's interests. They centre the learning around a core story, with repetitive refrains that children chant and sing throughout the day. For example, children use binoculars to look around the environment and children's names, asking them what they see.
• Staff are highly skilled at using every opportunity to support children's development in all areas of learning, particularly in communication and language. They have conversations with children, sing to them and read them stories. Staff miss out the last words of songs and sentences, so children complete them. They repeat what children have said with extra information. For example, when staff ask what they could see and children say a 'duck', staff reply a 'yellow duck'.
• Staff use every opportunity to expand children's vocabulary. For example, while making wands, staff sing and introduce new words. Children join in with new phrases, such as 'scrunch the leaves'.
• Children have many opportunities to develop their mathematical language and understanding. They count to 10 as they hide from each other and use items to measure size. Staff ask how many more eyes children need now as they decorate their '10-eyed' frogs. They comment that children are 'half' way there as they get to five.
• Managers and staff are passionate about expanding the life experiences of the children in their care. They plan opportunities, such as finding pumpkins in the grass next to the setting. Staff take children to the pantomime and on farm visits. They use these experiences to enhance children's understanding of the world around them.
• A strength of the setting is the partnership with parents and carers. Managers and staff are dedicated to supporting the families of the children they care for. They go above and beyond. Staff invite parents into the setting to share their children's experiences at least every half term with events for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day and a Christmas workshop. Parents speak very highly of the setting and feel fully supported and informed about their children's progress.
• Supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is another strength of the setting. Staff work incredibly well to ensure that children make excellent progress. They liaise with parents and outside agencies. Staff support parents to complete the necessary paperwork to ensure a smooth transition into school. They also share specific strategies that work very well in the setting.
• Staff's well-being is a priority for managers and staff can access a dedicated 'well-being manager'. They feel very well supported and confident in their roles due to the training opportunities and the encouragement of the leadership team. Staff thoroughly enjoy working in this setting.