Sunny Socks Nursery Schools Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a friendly, nurturing and inviting environment. When children arrive, the caring staff give them a unique and warm welcome. Staff develop strong bonds with children. Children show that they feel safe and secure. Younger children approach familiar staff for cuddles and reassurance, when they need it. They point to staff that they recognise and say their names with a smile. Older children confidently talk to visitors about their experiences, such as when they enjoyed looking around a fire engine that was parked at the front of the nursery.

Staff get to know children well from the start. They allow children time to take the lead in following their interests and ideas. For example, staff encourage the children to choose from a wide range of natural and recycled resources that can be combined in many different ways. This includes play with construction parts to create children's individual ideas for models. Children concentrate well as they explore materials, including sand, water, herbs, fruits and everyday wooden and metal objects, using all of their senses.

Children of all ages demonstrate good manners and consideration for others. Staff set clear boundaries and high expectations for them. They are positive role models who offer plenty of praise and encouragement for children's efforts. Children are well prepared for future learning, including the move to school.

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

• Leaders and managers are passionate about supporting children and staff to grow and thrive. They work closely with professionals to ensure all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress. They support staff to develop professionally through targeted training, coaching and promoting their well-being. Each staff member is valued for the qualities they bring to the nursery.
• Older children learn how to manage their emotions. Staff teach them to recognise feelings in themselves and others. For instance, they talk to children about techniques for calming themselves when they are upset, angry or worried. Children name who they can go to for help, including staff and their own families and friends. They say, 'I can sort out arguments with my friends.'
• Children have many opportunities to explore the wider community around them. For example, they visit locations in the village, including shops, a church, a library and nearby farm. Staff provide them with a model 'village' and photos of local landmarks for them to talk about and practise role play.
• Staff ensure that children learn across the curriculum outdoors in the fresh air. Children relish running in wide open spaces and strengthening their muscles as they push themselves along in cars and on bikes. They observe nature around them including farm animals, such as cows, and insects, such as ladybirds in the garden. This supports their physical development and good understanding of the natural world.
• Staff provide a nutritious menu. Children find out how food is grown. They tend and harvest plants for cooking and tasting, for example potatoes from the garden. However, at snack time and mealtimes, staff do not talk with children about what they are eating and how food can help us stay healthy. They do not always help children learn or recall why and how they should wash their hands before eating. This means children have fewer opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyle choices.
• Parents strongly value the nursery and the help that they receive from staff, for example, with toilet training. They say communication by all staff, particularly their child's key worker, is excellent. As a result, parents comment that they understand how to help their children continue to learn at home.
• Children gain some good independence skills, overall. For instance, older children freely access drinking water. Babies use spoons to feed themselves. However, on occasion, staff do not encourage older children as effectively to contribute to their own self-care, such as serving food with cutlery, setting and clearing tables and pouring drinks from jugs. Some younger children become unsettled as they wait for their needs to be met by staff, because they are not as purposefully engaged during snack and mealtimes.
• Staff promote children's communication skills well. They introduce babies to repeated language, for instance naming farm animals or demonstrating the sounds the animals make. Staff encourage younger children to add new words to make phrases and short sentences. Children of all ages listen to familiar stories and join in with songs and rhymes. Older children learn descriptive vocabulary as staff enrich their conversations with words related to their interests.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give consistent messages to children about the importance of healthy lifestyles
• strengthen the implementation of routines, such as mealtimes, so that children experience even more purposeful interactions at these times.