Sunshine Day Nursery (NGH)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children progress well, overall, in this well equipped, warm and welcoming environment. Children settle well and demonstrate that they feel safe and valued. They have strong bonds with staff and are confident to approach them for comfort and reassurance. For example, one child in the baby room was unsure of the unfamiliar inspector and constantly checked in with their key worker for reassurance as they approached her. Children develop high level of confidence and self-esteem. Children behave well and they are eager to play and learn. Children develop good language skills and communicate well with adults and friends. Older children were confident to speak with the inspector and express that they enjoy coming to nursery to play with their friends.

Children are engaged in a wide range of exiting activities that are tailored to promote their next steps in learning. Older children learn about 'cause and effect' by take part in exciting experiments. For example, children were deeply engaged in an activity which showed the effect that liquid soap has when placed into milk which contained food colouring. This promoted discussion around self-care skills and the importance of hygiene and washing hands. Children could visualise the food colouring as germs and see the soap moving the food colouring away.

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

• Staff receive good support from leaders. They have regular appraisals and supervision meetings where they can consider their training needs and develop their practice. Staff well-being is considered and this is evident in the comfortable staff room which has motivational quotes on the wall. The nursery operate an open-door policy for staff and they know they can always speak with a member of the management team if they need to. Staff are happy in their roles and morale is high.
• Overall, children make good progress in their communication skills. However, staff do not always make best of questioning techniques or give children time to process and answer questions that they are asked. This impacts on the progress children make in their vocabulary and language skills.
• Management and staff are clear on how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work closely with outside agencies to offer appropriate support for children and their families.
• Parent partnership is strong. Staff work closely with parents to promote children's learning and continuity of care. Various strategies are in place to inform and support parents, including parent friendly copies of planning displayed outside the rooms and emailed to parents. Regular parents evenings, progression reports, detailed hand overs and parents information boards signpost parents to other services. Parent's report that they feel that they are kept up to date with their children's progression and given ideas how to help promote their next steps at home.
• Although staff plan well for indoor learning, they do not always give the same consideration to learning outdoors. Children spend less time outside and this is weather dependent which leads to children not fully developing their skills and knowledge, particularly those who learn best outdoors.
• Staff plan around children's likes and interests which helps to engage children in learning. For example, a two-year-old child loves to play with babies, so their next steps are often implemented using dolls, the home corner and role play.
• Children are well behaved. They are supported by staff members who help them to interact well with their peers. Staff help children to develop from playing alongside other children to playing with other children and building friendships.
• Younger children are well supported as they settle into nursery. Staff take time to get to know the family and the child's routine. They implement this into the nursery routine to help make the move as smooth as possible. Settling-in sessions are fluid to suit the needs of the child and family. This help children build a bond with their key worker who is allocated before the child starts to help them settle.
• Children are encouraged to develop good independence skills. For example, they learn to put on their own coats. They have free access to drinking water which they can pour for themselves and they drink from open top cups. At meal times, children are given a choice between two healthy options. They carry their plate back to their seat, which has their name label on, to help children begin to identify their own name.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of teaching strategies, including questioning, to support and extend children's communication skills
• plan a wider range of activities outdoors to fully support children's learning in all areas of their development.