Teeny Days Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

On arrival, children leave their parents with ease and immediately engage in activities in the nursery. The older children are happy and excited to see what is available for them for the day ahead. Staff members welcome the children into the room and join them to start their play. The younger children are confident in deciding what they would like to play with and choose their toys independently. An effective key-person system enables children to feel secure. Staff are kind and nurturing, which helps children to develop good levels of self-confidence and enjoyment in their learning.

Children are well prepared for the next steps in their learning. Staff work collaboratively with each other to support children as they move from one room to the other. The younger children take part in short lengths of circle time. This prepares them for the large-group activities which take place in the pre-school room. This ensures that children understand what is expected of them. The older children learn skills to support them with the move on to school. For example, children independently put their coats and shoes on, with staff close by to help. Staff work closely with the schools children will move to.

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

• There are opportunities for children to develop their communication and language skills across the whole nursery. Staff working with the younger children focus on children's attention, listening and understanding skills. Staff speak to children at eye level, with minimal distractions, to develop these skills further. Staff talk to children continuously throughout the day. They are aware of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's language development and work closely with professionals to support children. Staff use lots of repetitive language, adding one word where appropriate. This improves children's language.
• Children discover and discuss numbers in all areas of the nursery. At morning group time, the children talk about the date today and what number that is. Staff use clapping to support the children to count. This aids children's understanding of numbers. However, staff do not always support children to explore further, solve problems and think about other areas, such as shape, capacity and measure.
• Staff have a good knowledge of child development. They gather information from parents before the children start. Staff use this information to ensure that children settle well. Staff use children's interests to create activities. They adapt these to help to promote children's next steps in their learning. The nursery prides itself on the staff's knowledge of all children. All children make good progress.
• Children with special education needs and/or disabilities make good progress at the nursery. The staff are quick to identify concerns early. This means adaptations are put in place quickly and effectively. The nursery works in collaboration with a range of professionals to support all children. While children are in the nursery, staff are quick to adapt to ongoing changes in support for those children. For example, when children become agitated by changes in the routine, staff quickly and calmly settle them by singing.
• The nursery has very good partnerships with parents. Parents comment that they are impressed with the communication they receive about their children's care and development. Parents explain that the implementation of a new communication system allows them to play a bigger part in their child's learning. They appreciate the activity ideas they receive.
• Staff at the nursery feel very supported by the manager. Effective supervision allows staff time to talk about each child in their key group. The manager supports staff's mental well-being effectively. This creates an effective team. Staff complete regular training, which they feed back to the staff team and embed this into practice. This ensures that a good standard of teaching and learning is maintained.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's understanding of how to support children to explore further and develop their skills in thinking critically and solving problems, for example when looking at shape and measurement.