Teacher Time

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery is filled with smiles and laughter. Children receive a warm welcome on arrival and skip in happily. Staff put much thought and care in to the learning environment, which reflects children's interests and preferences for play. For example, they have extended pretend play opportunities by adding a hairdresser, shop and police station to the existing home-corner area to support those children who enjoy imaginative play. This helps to motivate children to join in and enjoy their learning.

Staff nurture children's curiosity, independence and confidence. The range of carefully planned play spaces supports the broad and balanced curriculum and provides opportunities for children to develop their skills across all areas of learning. This helps all children to build on what they know and can do.

There is culture of respect, in which staff model courtesy and kindness. They gently remind children about ways to keep themselves safe, for example, by sitting safely on chairs and walking when indoors. These clear and calm interactions help children to develop responsible behaviours. Staff are kind and caring. Children respond with trust and affection, for example, by cheerfully hugging familiar staff. This demonstrates the strong relationships that they form with staff. Children are happy and confident in their care.

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

• Staff support children's learning well overall. For example, they explain activities clearly and demonstrate new skills, such as how to safely cut fruit while preparing snack. Staff encourage children to keep trying, such as when trying to scoop kiwi fruit from the skin. Staff celebrate with children, for example, when they build the 'highest tower ever'. Children are eager and resilient and love to learn.
• Support for children's communication and language development is strong. Staff introduce new words during children's play and ask open-ended questions, giving children time to think and respond. This approach helps children, particularly those who speak English as an additional language, to expand their vocabulary and understanding.
• Mathematics is becoming increasingly embedded in the curriculum. Staff provide activities that are carefully designed to include counting, comparing and language related to size and quantity. Children often use words such as 'more' and 'less', 'long' and 'short'. They use numbers confidently during independent play. Older children begin to solve simple problems involving adding and subtraction.
• At times, activities do not always meet the needs of the youngest children. Staff, at times, focus more on the needs of older children. Younger children sometimes struggle to stay engaged and lose interest before taking part fully. They move away from activities that feel too long or complex and, occasionally, miss out on valuable learning opportunities.
• The diverse staff team brings a wide range of experiences that help to enrich children's understanding of different values and beliefs. Children show pride in their heritage, for example, when they teach their friends words from their first language. They show respect for others and develop a sense of belonging in their community.
• Some routines, such handwashing, are well embedded, while others lack structure. During story time, staff allow children to chat or leave the group. At mealtimes, they allow them to continue playing rather than join the table. This reduces children's opportunities to build positive attitudes and key skills for successful, later learning in school, such as listening, attention and cooperation.
• Leaders are dedicated and ambitious. They coach and mentor staff to increase their confidence in implementing the curriculum effectively. A culture of continuous reflection leads to ongoing developments in the nursery that build on the good quality of education. For example, staff use new equipment in the garden to help children to improve their physical skills and abilities.
• Parents and carers value the enriching experiences that children have, such as caring for hatching chicks. They enjoy attending stay-and-play sessions where they share in their child's learning and gain ideas to extend this at home. Leaders take extra measures to support parents, for example, by collecting children from home. This helps to ensure that children benefit consistently from their early education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help younger children to benefit even more from staff's good teaching, for example, by ensuring that their particular learning needs are considered more consistently when planning activities
• give older children more consistent and clear guidance to help them to understand and cooperate with appropriate expectations during routines and activities.