Step Start Nurseries Braintree

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy at the nursery and readily leave their parents at the door. New children are offered comfort and reassurance as they adapt to nursery life. This helps to build secure bonds with their key persons. Children quickly join their friends and engage in play. Young children explore materials in their 'dinosaur swamp'. They use their fingers to pull apart the swamp materials and sprinkle them over the dinosaurs. Other children focus on making a home for the animals out of a cardboard box, and decorate it with crayons.

Older children use their imagination as they make themselves a bed out of resources and pretend it is the doctor's surgery. They take turns acting out roles and share their experiences with friends. They creatively choose different items, such as wooden blocks, to add to their play, to imitate the equipment the doctor needs, such as a thermometer.

Children enjoy regular time exploring outside. Staff help them to understand the effects of the weather as the children use paper bags to make kites. Children spend time decorating their kites as they talk to staff and share ideas. Other children experiment with sound tubes as they make noises to imitate elephants. They giggle as they chase their friends with their 'sound trunks'.

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

• The manager reflects on practice and has worked hard since the last inspection to bring about the necessary changes to improve the nursery. She sought support from the local authority to make changes to practice, to further benefit the children's care and learning. The manager has set clear goals to build on these improvements, such as developing her staff team.
• Children are confident talkers. Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's speaking and communication skills. For example, staff create picture cards and share these with very young children to introduce new vocabulary to them. Staff provide a narrative to children's play and place an emphasis on repeating key words, such as 'splash, splash', during water play.
• Overall, children behave well. They learn to share and take turns from a young age. Staff provide activities that promote turn-taking and ensure that all children have a turn. For example, toddlers play 'what's in the box' as they sing a song and wait their turn to choose items from a box. However, on occasions, staff overlook the opportunity to help children understand the consequences of their behaviour. For example, when children are having a story, other children push their pushchairs through the middle of the group. Not only does this distract children, but it also has an impact on their levels of engagement, and some children leave the story time.
• Children benefit from a broad curriculum that provides activities that follow their interests. This helps to engage children and support them to make good progress from their starting points. Staff value children's interests and their input into the activities that are offered. Older children are elected as part of a committee and hold meetings to share ideas about their likes and dislikes. Their ideas are added to the planned curriculum. This helps children feel valued and that their views are respected.
• Children are encouraged to be critical thinkers and solve problems. For example, during a cooking activity, staff challenge children to work out why their mixture has turned brown, despite using multi-coloured sprinkles. Some children confidently share their thoughts. However, occasionally, staff do not consistently adapt their interactions to respond to individual children's engagement during activities. This means that the less confident children do not have the same opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas.
• Children are encouraged to be physically active. They spend time in the well-resourced garden and get fresh air daily. Babies use the low-level furniture to pull themselves up and practise their walking.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents say that they have seen the nursery grow in strength since the last inspection. They feel that the manager makes herself available to them and listens to their thoughts and opinions. Parents comment that their children are happy in the nursery and that they are pleased with their progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• encourage staff to consistently support children to understand the actions and consequences of their behaviour, to strengthen their knowledge about what is right and wrong
• review the organisation of group and story times so that children can remain focused and engaged
• encourage the less confident children to contribute and express their ideas during group activities.