Stephen Perse Nurseries Salisbury Villas

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive at the nursery. Staff are kind and welcoming as they greet children and their families. Children form excellent relationships with the staff and loving bonds with their peers. They are extremely motivated to learn and engage in exciting and purposeful activities. For example, children enjoy participating in experiments. They explore the different temperatures of water and discover the effects it has on ice. Staff speak clearly and introduce new words, such as 'cold', 'hot', 'frozen' and 'melting'. This helps to develop children's vocabulary and extend language skills. They show excitement as they enthusiastically discover various animals hidden inside the ice. Staff challenge children's language skills as they discuss what the animals look like and the sounds they make.

Children's behaviour is excellent. They are kind and caring towards each other, inviting adults and children to join in with their play. Staff listen and follow the interests of children and lead on their play. For example, children are highly motivated as they work collaboratively to create 'cakes' and 'juice' at the mud kitchen. Children investigate the concoction they have created. For instance, they use available resources and their hands to explore the mixture of soil, water, leaves and bark.

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

• The inspirational leadership team and manager are committed to ensuring children receive the best care and start to their education. They communicate regularly with staff so they are always kept up to date with relevant information. Leaders and managers discuss training ideas with staff to support their ongoing professional development. Staff state they feel 'valued' and 'well supported'. The whole team work brilliantly together to ensure children have wonderful learning opportunities.
• Staff have an expert knowledge of all children in their care. They make excellent use of in-depth settling-in meetings to make sure they know as much as possible about children before they move to the next phase of their learning. Parents praise staff for the consistent high-quality communication. They say this helps them to understand their children's ongoing activities and learning when at home. For example, parents are delighted to hear about children sowing tomato seeds and are keen to carry on the activity at home.
• Staff promote children to be independent from a young age. They encourage babies to 'have a go' and make independent choices. Staff are kind and caring, asking permission from babies before changing their nappies. Children attempt to put on their own shoes and wellingtons before going outside. Staff use children's interests in singing to embed the importance of good hygiene. They support children's knowledge about oral health by providing activities using toothbrushes to clean 'dirty' teeth.
• Staff act as positive role models who support children to the highest level. Children understand and confidently follow the rules and routines of the nursery. They demonstrate excellent manners from a young age and even babies say 'please' and 'thank you' using sign language. Younger children help to tidy away and engage fully at group times. For instance, children enthusiastically participate in yoga.
• Staff have an excellent curriculum in place and use children's play interests effectively to engage children in their learning. For example, children pretend to go on a train journey to London Zoo and discover various animals on their way. They use mathematical language as they count how many animals they can see. Staff extend children's counting well by asking questions, such as 'what number next?'.
• Staff use their expertise and work exceptionally well together to identify gaps in children's learning and development. They have a deep understanding of the children's backgrounds and languages spoken at home. Staff embrace festivals and celebrations important to the families, which in turn helps children learn about the community they live in. Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, make excellent progress.
• Children are very attentive and concentrate well for their young age. They show eagerness to learn and are always engaged in purposeful activities. Staff understand their children well and show excellent teaching skills. For example, children show interest in making ice lollies. Children use a manual hand juicer to yield the juice from oranges. Staff ask questions to challenge children's thoughts about the process, such as, 'I wonder how...' They model new language, such as 'squash' and 'squeeze', as children excitedly press their orange.