Sunshine Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children eagerly enter the setting where they freely give cuddles to staff. They are keen to start their day, settling quickly with their chosen activity. Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. Pre-school children thoroughly enjoy baking. They behave well as they take turns to measure out ingredients and stir the mixture. Children demonstrate good social skills. They talk about where they go shopping and what food they buy. Staff extend on this and ask children, for example, how flour is made. Children recall previous learning and confidently state that a combine harvester chops down the wheat and turns it into flour. Children are developing skills they need in preparation for school. For example, they do things for themselves, such as readily tidying away resources, accessing the toilet and pouring their own drinks.

Children are developing their physical skills. Babies show confidence as they learn to walk. Staff hold their hands to ensure they are safe. Toddlers concentrate as they use water to carefully paint the fence outdoors. Pre-school children excitedly join a music and dance session. They listen carefully to the changes in the music and enthusiastically move their bodies to the rhythm as they pretend to be volcanos. Children skilfully transfer the dance movements into smaller movements. For example, they follow the music again, this time using crayons alongside hand and arm movements. Children eagerly create drawings of volcanos. The range of physical movements they use during the activity prepare them for early writing.

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

• Leaders highly value their staff team and show genuine affection for the children in their care. Leaders work hard to further develop the provision. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the setting. They describe it as an 'extended family'. Parents feel that their children are learning to interact with others and develop confidence. They feel that their children are ready for school.
• Staff support children's language and communication development. Babies and toddlers show a love of books. They readily cosy up to staff to look at pictures together. Pre-school children learn new words from staff, such as 'erupt'. Children say this means 'exploding'. They share ideas with each other to identify the colour of lava. This helps children become confident talkers as they practise their conversational skills.
• Staff teach children what is expected of them during daily routines and activities. They are good role models who provide consistent guidance to children. Staff gently remind children to use manners during play. Children learn rules that keep them safe. For example, when a child tries to climb when they should not, children put out their hands to tell them to stop.
• Staff know the children well. They know what they want children to learn next and plan many exciting and enticing activities. However, staff do not always make the most of activities to build on children's knowledge and skills. For example, during a free-play water activity, children push objects down and watch as they pop back up again. Staff do not extend and build on children's curiosity during this activity, to deepen their understanding.
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive effective support. For example, staff support families to access services such as speech and language therapists.
• Overall, group activities and routines support children to learn. However, sometimes, too much happens at once, causing children to disengage. For example, during registration, some children lose focus as they sit for a long period of time. Additionally, morning snack time involves many activities. There is a poem being read, several staff talk as they serve food, and children have to raise their voices to be heard. This results in high noise levels. Children's learning is disrupted and they are unable to fully engage well in any of the activities.
• Staff provide healthy meals and snacks for the children and encourage them to wash their hands before meals. Children are learning good hygiene routines. For example, they accidently touch their face when preparing food, and tell staff they need to go and wash their hands so germs do not go in the food.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of group times so children do not lose focus and have their learning disrupted
• support all staff to use free-play activities effectively to extend children's curiosity and build on their learning further.