Tarka Tots Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and demonstrate that they feel safe, settled and secure. Staff are excellent role models. They show respect and kindness for others, which children mirror in their own interactions. For example, older children say please and thank you when staff offer them snacks. Children behave well. When minor disagreements occur, staff manage this well. They explain the potential consequences of children's actions on themselves and others to help them learn to manage their own behaviour.

Staff encourage children to persevere when they find things difficult, building children's resilience and self-esteem. For example, they show children how to balance on planks. Children practise with staff guidance and beam with delight when they achieve their goal. Children show motivation to learn. They focus for long periods from an early age. For example, babies listen intently as staff read stories. Older children learn to solve problems to develop their critical thinking skills as they experiment with ways to remove cars that are stuck in play dough.

Staff support children's language development well. They add new words to extend children's vocabulary and repeat children's speech to help them learn how to pronounce words correctly. Staff have high expectations of children, instilling a love of learning which prepares them for the next stage in their education, including school.

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

• The manager plans a balanced curriculum with a clear focus on developing children's communication skills. Experienced staff implement the curriculum well. Staff new to the nursery are still developing their understanding of the curriculum and sometimes miss opportunities to extend older children's learning. Despite this, all children make good progress from their starting points.
• Care and learning in the baby room is of a particularly high quality, meaning children have an excellent start to their educational journey. Staff in the baby room are very sensitive to children's needs and children build strong bonds with them. Babies follow routines and are independent from an early age. They learn to say 'help please' when they need assistance from staff, such as when putting on their coats and shoes. This helps to reduce frustration and helps them to express their needs.
• Staff teach children the skills they need to be able to solve disputes for themselves. For example, staff model how to ask for a turn and praise children for sharing, which nurtures their personal development. Older children demonstrate good social skills as they share chalk with other children in the outdoor area and line up to take turns on the play equipment.
• Staff provide high-quality interactions to help develop children's communication skills. Children use language well. For example, babies use two-word sentences, such as 'wash hands' and 'all gone'. Older children use the correct words to compare sizes, such as 'taller' as they build with foam bricks outside.
• Staff use assessment effectively to identify when a child is at risk of falling behind. They work closely with the special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator, parents and external agencies to help ensure children receive extra support, when needed. The manager takes professional advice to guide her use of funding to ensure it meets the needs of the intended children.
• Staff well-being is of a high priority to the management team. For example, managers work hard to reduce the burden of paperwork for staff and organise events and rewards to maintain their high morale. Staff report that they feel well supported which helps to ensure that children receive good quality care and learning.
• Children develop their independence in preparation for school. For example, older children attend to their own toileting and put on their own coats and shoes. Toddlers ably serve their own snacks with tongs and babies use open cups from a young age.
• Staff plan activities to support children to develop their muscles in preparation for early writing. For example, they manipulate play dough with their hands and practise using one-handed tools, such as scissors. Children enjoy making marks to develop their literacy skills using chalk, pencils and paint.
• There have been some recent changes to staffing which have resulted in changes to children's key persons. Children remain settled and well supported by staff. However, staff have not kept parents fully informed about these changes which hinders partnership working. Despite this, parents say staff are caring and that their children enjoy their time at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build further on relationships with parents to ensure all parents know who their children's key person is and understand the role of the key person to help ensure continuity of care and learning
• continue to provide support, training and coaching for new staff, to build their confidence and skills in delivering the curriculum effectively for older children.