Teddy Wilf's Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled and happy in the care of the attentive staff team. They benefit from staff who know them well and know how best to support their individual learning.

Children are confident and know the expectations staff have for them. They behave well. Children understand where to put their wet paintings, for example, and where to find the resources they want to explore. Children benefit from having long periods of uninterrupted time to play and learn. Staff skilfully guide and teach children as they play. They learn about mini-beasts, for instance, by looking at books, hunting outdoors and by modelling with dough. Children are curious learners. Staff support children to find answers to their questions, such as how long a caterpillar egg takes to hatch. Staff use children's interests well to engage and motivate them in their learning.

Staff help children understand their emotions. They explore puppets, for example, as they talk about how they feel. Children demonstrate they feel safe and secure in the staff's warm care. Their emotional well-being is supported effectively. Children learn many skills that will support them to move on to the next stage in their education.

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

• Managers and staff have designed their own curriculum for children, tailoring their teaching to what they identify as important skills for children. Staff place a high focus on making sure children are settled and happy, ready to learn.
• Staff build effective parent partnerships from the children's initial days at the setting. This supports good levels of two-way communication and continuity for children's care and learning. Parents' comment very positively about the trust they have in the staff's care, and their highly supportive approach for the whole family.
• Staff readily identify when children need more help for their learning. A highly effective support system is swiftly put in place. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have individualised learning plans to support them to make progress in their learning. Additional funding is very effectively used to ensure all children have the best possible start for their education in the setting.
• Occasionally, planning and teaching of group activities is not fully effective. Older children sing enthusiastically, for example, but disrupt younger children's attention and ability to listen to stories. This means not all children have the support they need to develop their attention and focus at these times.
• Children learn to be confident communicators. For instance, they have visual prompts to help them use sentences to ask for their preferred breakfast. Staff model words for children to hear and introduce them to new words as they play. Children benefit from good levels of support for their developing communication skills.
• Children play cooperatively together. They play board games, enjoy being creative, and run, climb and balance outdoors. Staff readily notice when quieter children may need more help to engage in their learning. They are quick to suggest ways to play that they know will motivate and excite individual children. Staff deploy themselves well to ensure all children have good support for their learning.
• Staff are positive role models for children. They demonstrate good manners, for example, and teach children about the importance of washing their hands before eating. However, staff do not always recognise when they could encourage children to develop their independence skills. At times, they complete simple tasks for children that they could try themselves.
• Managers are very passionate about the setting and the families they provide care for. They have built highly effective systems of communication with many external professionals. Managers are determined to ensure that the support they offer is what families need for their children to thrive.
• Managers have good systems in place to ensure they monitor staff well-being, practice and their quality of teaching. All staff have training plans to support their continued professional development. Recently, for instance, all staff have visited a local school for children with SEND. They have introduced new ideas and strategies from these visits to support all children with their communication.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve adult-led group activities to help children focus and so that their individual learning needs are met
• help staff to recognise and make the most of opportunities to encourage children to develop their independence skills.