Sunflowers Southport Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

A caring, friendly and well-established staff team greet children warmly into the nursery. Children are happy and feel safe and secure. Staff offer cuddles to children who seek out comfort when they are unsure. Staff create a welcoming and friendly environment, with a broad range of activities to spark children's interest and curiosity. The leadership team has developed a clear curriculum and supports staff to be clear about what they want children to learn. Staff enthusiastically join in children's play. They provide children with a variety of experiences based on children's likes and interests. Children have a voice, such as when staff involve them in choosing the books to read and songs to sing at circle time. As a result, all children make good progress from their starting points in development.

Children learn about respect, values and morals through the nursery's key 'promises'. Staff instil simple, yet consistent, and effective boundaries for children's behaviour. These include 'kind hands', 'good tidying', 'kind words' and 'good listening'. Children are proud to add their photo to the display when they have carried out a promise. As a result, they learn to regulate their own behaviour. Children talk about these promises during their play and remind their friends, for example, by saying, 'You are a kind friend.'

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

• Staff create an inclusive environment, implementing strategies that meet children's individual learning needs. Staff in all rooms across the nursery use visual timetables and objects of reference to support children's understanding of transitions within the daily routine.
• The key-person arrangements are effective in helping to support individual children to settle and provide targeted next steps in their learning. Parents and carers comment that they are well informed, there is good communication and that they know their child's key person and next steps in learning. As a result, parent partnership is strong.
• Children benefit from time spent outdoors in the extensive garden. They particularly enjoy playing with water. Children work in pairs to collect water from the pump. They use their strength and coordination as they turn the wheel to activate the pump and others hold the container. This supports children's physical skills.
• Staff promote children's respectful behaviours and awareness of being fair, such as taking turns, sharing and using good manners. Children show understanding of these. For example, they say 'please' and 'thank you' and 'you are welcome' at appropriate times.
• Children demonstrate a love of stories. They anticipate what might happen next in the book and can recite familiar phrases and refrains. Older children learn about the role of an author and an illustrator. They recall that the illustrator 'draws the pictures' and the author 'writes the words'. This supports their ongoing literacy development.
• Staff provide a commentary on children's play and introduce new descriptive language, such as 'crumbled', 'sieve' and 'sprinkle', when playing in the sand. This helps children to build their vocabulary and knowledge.
• Children learn how to look after plants, including fruit and vegetables. They help to plant potatoes. Staff quiz them on what they will need to help the potatoes grow, praising children when they say water or sunshine. This helps children to learn where food comes from.
• In general, children follow good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands after using the toilet and before they eat their meals and snacks. However, good hygiene practices are not followed consistently. For example, staff do not ensure that young children wash their hands after nappy change routines. This does not help to fully support children's understanding of healthy lifestyles.
• Leaders support staff well through training, modelling and mentoring. Staff have opportunities to reflect on their practice during supervision meetings and plan how they can continue to improve. In addition, staff undertake training as a team. For example, they have worked together to achieve the Attachment and Trauma Sensitive Setting Award, which is a nationally recognised award.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that staff follow hygiene and handwashing routines consistently to fully support children's understanding of healthy lifestyles.