Stepping Stones Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed by a friendly and nurturing staff team. They come happily into a well-organised, safe and homely environment. Staff provide reassurance and comfort to children when they become upset, encouraging them to explore their emotions by talking to them about their feelings. Children have many opportunities to freely explore the resources and the environment. They greet their friends as they begin to play, making paint, scooping sand and pouring pasta. Children have excellent relationships with staff. They enjoy engaging and initiating conversations with staff as they eat their healthy snack and use their imaginations in the home corner.

Children are excited and motivated to learn. They enjoy getting ready for outdoor play and help each other to put on their waterproofs and wellington boots. They make the most of being outside and develop good gross motor skills. Children build resilience as they climb, negotiate space on bicycles and cars and balance on stepping stones. Children feel valued. Their achievements are praised and their excellent behaviour is celebrated. Children are able to share and take turns extremely well. For instance, children pass the flour to one another as they make play dough, and listen to each other at group time.

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

• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well supported. The special educational needs coordinator is highly proactive in recognising concerns and supporting children. Staff work closely as a team to create individualised support plans for children. They also work with families and other professionals to build targets and support. As a result, children make good progress across all areas of learning.
• Children's communication skills are encouraged throughout the nursery. They chat confidently with their friends and staff throughout the day. Staff model conversation skills well. They introduce new words to children in context, such as 'fluoride', when children clean their teeth. Babies' language skills are supported well. Staff babble with them, use simple words and introduce musical instruments as they experiment with sounds. However, at times, staff do not consistently provide children with sufficient time to respond during conversations, so that they can fully think out the solutions to their problems and questions.
• From an early age, children have access to books. Staff foster children's love of books and reading. Babies sit with staff and independently use lift the flap books. They giggle with delight when they find the animal and staff use these activities to introduce sounds for children to copy. Older children enjoy favourite stories, which they confidently retell. They use a range of reading materials in all aspects of their play. For instance, children follow recipe cards in the modelling area for making dough. While in the home area, they look at magazines and books.
• When children first start the nursery, staff gather detailed information from parents on children's care routines and developmental progress to date. This enables staff to plan activities to support children's next stage of development from the very start.
• Staff complete detailed observations and assessments of children's progress. This allows them to quickly identify if there are any gaps in children's learning. However, occasionally, staff do not make a clear link between the intended learning and the delivery of planned activities. This means that, at times, children's learning opportunities are not maximised.
• Partnership with parents is a strength of the nursery. Staff ensure that parents are kept informed about their children's progress. They support parents through the lending library to extend their children's learning at home. Parents are highly complimentary about the nursery. They comment on the excellent relationships that their children have with the staff and peers. Parents say that their children are keen to attend and are positive about the high-quality information sharing.
• Staff feel that their well-being is supported at this nursery. There are systems in place for staff supervision meetings. Staff are confident they can speak to leaders at any time if they need support. Staff access regular training online and externally, and the impact of training is evaluated.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider the length of time young children need to respond during conversations, so that they can fully think out the solutions to their problems and questions
• support staff to make a clear link between the intent and delivery of planned activities to enable them to shape all activities to children's learning needs.