Stepping Stones Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident learners, who thrive at this nurturing nursery. Staff create an enriching and ambitious curriculum with the vision that all children will reach their full potential. They share a deeply inclusive culture that enables every child, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to be at the heart of all activities. Highly skilled staff react to children's needs and adapt their teaching methods accordingly. All children make excellent progress.

Staff support children across the nursery to be immersed in the world of books. Toddlers learn to hear stories and start to plan their own. Pre-school children are captivated by stories from different cultures. They deepen their understanding by exploring atlases, learning about different continents and the wildlife that live there. Staff in every room of the nursery understand the progression of children's skills for all areas of learning.

Staff celebrate the unique and diverse backgrounds of all children. Children feel proud to share their experiences and achievements at home and in the nursery. Staff give children responsibilities and encourage them to be highly independent. Children are well mannered and kind. They cooperate with each other in their play and share a strong understanding of the expectations of their behaviour that keep themselves and others safe and happy.

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

• Staff collaborate effectively to embed a curriculum that considers closely the needs of individual children. For example, in the toddler room, there is a strong focus on physical development. Staff build on children's core strength and balance skills. Children feel excited to learn to throw, catch and roll balls at the local park. They crawl through tunnels and negotiate space with others. These exciting experiences start children on a journey to building physical strength and coordination.
• Staff successfully sequence their curriculum. The detailed planning across the nursery ensures that children obtain and build on fundamental skills. For example, toddlers excitedly describe their faces and body parts. Staff teach them more complex vocabulary to describe how they look. Pre-school children build on their understanding by examining what is inside their bodies. They learn about their bones and how their bodies work. Staff want to see children achieve goals more than once before moving on. This ensures that children gain a deep understanding and remember what they have learned.
• Staff monitor all children's progress meticulously. They build strong links with external agencies that offer additional support for children with SEND. Leaders ensure that staff are trained to deliver targeted interventions. For example, staff use Makaton and visual aids to promote children's communication skills. They make links with experts to deliver targeted support to help children to express their needs. Children with SEND feel highly confident and able to access the curriculum in its entirety.
• Staff are highly successful at engaging parents and carers in their children's learning. They plan a wide variety of opportunities for parents to take part in learning with children at the nursery. Leaders ensure that communication with parents is two way. This helps them to reflect on who children are and what they need to be successful. Parents value the strong relationships that staff build with their children. They say that the fluid communication helps them to feel deeply involved in nursery life and extends their children's learning. Parents remark on children's excellent progress.
• Staff provide children with healthy and nutritious foods. They teach children to make healthy choices to help them to grow and become physically strong. Staff ensure that any dietary requirements and allergies that children have are shared and understood by everyone in the nursery. Children learn that staying hydrated and eating healthily helps them to be healthy.
• Leaders ensure that highly focused supervision sessions enable staff to identify potential growth for their own practice. Staff have opportunities to take the lead on areas of the curriculum that they feel passionate about. For example, staff have recently attended training on mathematics. They have conducted a whole nursery audit of resources. Leaders and staff evaluate the impact of training as they enhance children's learning experiences.