Tender Years Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children excitedly enter the nursery, eager and ready to learn. They receive a warm welcome from nurturing staff, who know them well. Children quickly settle into the routines of the day. Pre-school children delight in experimenting as they mix coloured liquids. They carefully use pipettes to transfer the different colours between beakers. They are learning to make predictions about what new colours they will make. Children are highly engaged and staff ask open-ended questions to help them to think critically. This strengthens their analytical skills.

Children are encouraged to be creative and follow their own interests. Young babies curiously explore different textures as they paint pictures of vegetables. This helps to strengthen their small hand muscles as they manipulate the different brushes. They enjoy the sensory feeling from painting their own hands and smudging it onto the paper. Staff are attentive when babies indicate they are finished and want to move on. Having their needs understood and well met helps them to feel safe and secure.

Staff have high expectations for all children. Children show high levels of respect for adults and their peers. They also learn about empathy and how to care for other creatures. The two nursery rabbits roam freely as the children play in the garden. Children learn how they need to negotiate the space so that it is safe for everyone, including the rabbits.

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

• Leaders are passionate about their role in shaping the experiences for early years children. They have designed a challenging and structured curriculum that builds on what the children already know and can do. Leaders have made strong improvements in staff's safeguarding knowledge since their last inspection. They implemented an interactive group training session, which has built staff's confidence in dealing with a range of safeguarding situations. Staff's safeguarding knowledge is secure.
• The established staff team speak very highly of the supportive manager. They say that she makes sure she is present and approachable. The manager ensures that a senior staff member completes closing checks at the end of each day. This means staff always have someone to talk to before they leave. This supports staff well-being and ensures that any concerns about children are dealt with in a timely manner.
• There is a strong relationship between home and nursery. Staff know children and their families very well. Parents comment that they appreciate the calm and common-sense approach of the manager. Parents report that they receive support for their children with a variety of different needs. For example, reassurance for first-time parents when their children have common medical conditions. This strong bond helps children and families to feel valued, safe and happy.
• Staff caring for young babies and pre-school children plan exciting activities. This ignites the children's curiosity and inquisitiveness to learn and helps them to remain highly engaged. Children expand their growing knowledge as they focus on an activity for a long time. However, there is further opportunity for staff working in the tweenies room, which is for children aged two years, and the toddler room to plan adult-led activities that will focus their children to the same high level.
• Children show a love of books. Staff considerately place books so that even the youngest babies can reach for them independently. Children show care as they delicately turn the pages. Staff make good use of stories to promote children's language skills. They cleverly stop reading during familiar stories so that children can recall the end of the sentences. Children shout with delight the words 'there's a shark in the park' when reading their favourite book.
• By the time they leave the nursery, most children are confident communicators. They can express their own ideas and feelings. Interactions between staff and children are warm and meaningful. However, occasionally, the quieter children do not always get the same level of interaction with staff. This means their opportunities to learn are sometimes less than other children.
• Older children enjoy a variety of rich experiences to support them to be a valued member of their local community. For example, they regularly visit the local elderly care home where they share songs and activities. This helps to build intergenerational relationships. Children are learning to show respect and kindness towards older adults.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to be aware of all children needs, so that quieter, less-confident children have the same opportunity to interact and learn at the highest level
• focus the planning in the tweenies and toddler rooms to provide activities that excite and engage children, so they can be challenged to the highest level.