Tenderlinks Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very warmly welcomed by staff at the start of their busy day. Children enthusiastically hang up their coats and bags on labelled coat pegs. They very quickly settle to activities they enjoy. Children demonstrate a positive sense of belonging, and they feel safe and emotionally secure.

Children have a very good start to their early education, helping to prepare them for the next stages in their learning and future success. The curriculum intent helps to enhance the experiences and opportunities available to children, particularly children who face difficulties and disadvantages.

Children love to participate in football coaching sessions to help develop their physical skills. Very young children jump up and down and shout, 'ball, ball'. They eagerly catch, throw and kick balls. Children are eager to join in and have a go. Children benefit from lots of fresh air during outdoor activities. For example, they enjoy growing vegetables in a vegetable patch and trips to nearby open spaces. Children's good health and well-being are supported well.

Children demonstrate very good behaviour and begin to develop self-help skills. For example, when children transition from the garden to indoors, they listen to and follow instructions to help keep themselves safe. Children confidently serve themselves during mealtimes, use the toilet and wash their hands independently.

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

• Following the COVID-19 pandemic, precautions continue to be in place to minimise the spread of infection and help to promote good hygiene practices. The manager recognises the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on children's development and some children's experiences. She says that some children, who do not have outdoor spaces, returned to nursery eager to go outdoors with their friends.
• The manager is keen to consistently improve the quality of care and education for all children. For example, she has made changes to the baby area to ensure the youngest children are provided with a cosier enclosed area to support their emotional security. Self-evaluation is effective.
• Staff welcome regular supervision meetings and say the expectation for less paperwork enables them to spend more quality time with children. Staff report high levels of support for their well-being, such as team building days and weekly yoga sessions, which staff enjoy.
• Parents appreciate 'excellent' settling-in sessions and say their children have made very good progress from when they first started. Parents' views are consistently considered. For example, following parent consultations, older children now enjoy weekly swimming lessons.
• Staff have built very positive relationships with parents and family members. For example, parents and grandparents thoroughly enjoy a morning visit to the nursery to celebrate Father's Day. They value time with children in the nursery garden. This helps to contribute to positive partnerships and impacts greatly on children's sense of self and emotional well-being.
• The nursery's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is competent in her role. She successfully coordinates support with key staff and external professionals to ensure good outcomes for all children. The SENCo uses her expertise to provide targeted support for children who may have gaps in their learning and development. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Overall, staff plan experiences and opportunities that children are interested in and meet their individual needs. As a result, children concentrate and are engaged in purposeful play. For example, very young children are fascinated by small-world animals frozen in coloured ice. Older children mix soil and water together and keenly use new words they have learned, such as 'broad bean' and 'stem'. Nevertheless, staff do not always plan opportunities to maximise children's understanding of numbers, patterns and technology.
• Overall, interactions are positive between staff and children. For example, staff support children to recognise and label feelings, and during circle time, older children are encouraged to share their home experiences. However, staff do not always adapt their interactions to help extend children's communication and language development to the highest level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• implement a curriculum to consistently focus more precisely on all areas of learning and development, in particular mathematical development and technology
• strengthen staff interactions and focus on extending children's language development to help children make the best possible progress.