Tarka Tots Ltd - South Molton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to come into this caring nursery and arrive ready to play. Staff support children to build their confidence and knowledge of the world around them. For instance, children learn to perform in front of others in small concerts at Christmas and while singing in the local residential home. They learn how to do things for themselves, such as pouring their own drinks and serving foods.

Children are confident and resilient learners. For example, they ask staff if they can pick the runner beans they have been growing. Children keep twisting the beans to take them off the plant, laughing when it is hard to do. They build a strong sense of self and their place in the local community they live in. Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children. The curriculum is well designed to progressively build on what children know and can do.

Children are happy and settled. Staff focus on positive transitions for children. They have improved the communication and support when children move into the next room in the nursery. Staff go with children into the new room for settling-in sessions. They work with their colleagues to share in-depth information about children. Parents and carers and staff comment on the consistency of the care and learning and the positive impact of these transitions for children.

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

• Staff quickly identify gaps in children's learning. They work with relevant professionals to provide targeted support. For example, staff work with speech and language specialists and health visitors to put relevant interventions in place for children. Staff select how to use funding for disadvantaged children and closely monitor the impact of their methods. This helps disadvantaged children and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to make progress from their starting points in development.
• Overall, staff promote children's language skills. For example, babies learn simple songs and enjoy repeating the words they know. Older children enjoy discussing the weather and describing what they think the weather is that day. Staff encourage children to share their ideas through thoughtful questioning. However, staff do not consistently make use of strategies in place to support some children to share their needs and feelings. For example, staff use signing for some babies to communicate, but not others. Also, they do not make use of the resources around feelings they have been sharing in the pre-school room consistently to support children who struggle to regulate and understand their feelings. This does not fully support the communication skills for these children.
• Staff know children well. They closely monitor children's progress and identify their next steps in learning and development. Leaders have improved staff's understanding of how to build on what children already know and can do. They have put in place regular observations of staff's practice and supervision sessions. Leaders and staff find relevant training to improve the quality of their interactions with children. Children's learning is well planned and individual to their needs.
• Children understand the rules and routines and behave well. However, the organisation of transitions, routines and mealtimes is not as organised as other times in the day, such as circle times. For example, staff set up for lunch in the pre-school room when lunch arrives, and children have to stand and wait for this to be completed for a long period of time. The youngest babies in the baby room have to wait as older babies choose drinks, pour them from jugs and select their foods first. At these times, they are not as content and settled as normal or engaged in their learning.
• Staff promote children's physical development. Babies build their balance and strength, such as while pushing themselves in ride-on vehicles in the fresh air. Older children build their stamina and coordination running on slopes outside and climbing on frames. Children delight in being outside and active.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff offer regular updates on children's progress and their next steps in learning. They provide ideas for how parents can support children at home. For instance, staff provide bags for children to collect flowers at home and bring in to the nursery when looking at a theme of flowers around them. This helps parents to feel included and involved in their children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that staff consistently use the communication strategies in place to further support children to share their needs and feelings
• develop the organisation of mealtimes and transition times to make sure that children are not waiting for long periods of time and are engaged in purposeful learning.