Thames Tiddlers Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle well. Staff create a warm and caring atmosphere. Young children engage as staff talk to them enthusiastically. Older children express their confidence as they ask questions and speak to staff. This demonstrates that children feel secure. Children have a wealth of opportunities to develop their physical skills through active play. They delight in running and riding bicycles and pushing diggers outdoors. Children enjoy regular sessions at the nursery's forest school as they manage risks, for instance as they climb trees. Babies enjoy developing their physical skills as they climb to slide down the wooden slide, others gain confidence using push-along toys to practise waking in the enclosed garden.

Children develop a range of skills and knowledge through play. They use a range of tools to make volcanoes and moons from clay. Adults teach children how to manage their own risks through discussions. Adults have high expectations of children and their abilities. They attentively encourage children to keep trying and support them to use their developing language to resolve minor conflicts. Children behave well. They are supported well to become independent; for example, children remove shoes to play in the indoor sandpit and serve their own meals. Children with English as an additional language and special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported very well by staff.

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

• The well-thought-out curriculum is designed to inspire children to learn. Staff follow children's ideas and interests as they plan activities. Staff revisit previous learning to support children to make connections, know and remember more to consolidate their ideas. The support for children with SEND is strong, with those children with more complex needs receiving individual support. Therefore, all children including those with SEND make good progress from their starting points.
• Children's communication skills are encouraged throughout the nursery. For instance, staff use single words with babies, and use repetition effectively. Older children are confident communicators. As their language develops, children are able to ask for help when needed and initiate conversation with their peers and staff. Pre-school children learn new words as they talk about their current interests of volcanoes and dinosaurs, eagerly describing differences between 'herbivores' and 'carnivores' in their play.
• Children have dedicated 'project rooms' within each of their rooms to enhance their creativity and share their ideas. For instance, babies have been learning about the moon in their favourite story. Toddlers have enjoyed recreating paintings of the moon and the sky at night and learning about famous artists, while using different media to create their own 'starry' picture. Older children use clay to make volcanoes, eagerly discussing how more lava means the volcano is 'fierce', because it moves further.
• Staff understand the importance of supporting children's social and emotional development and focus on helping children to learn about their emotions and build on their personal, social and emotional development. For example, children eagerly take turns and share resources. Nevertheless, staff have not fully explored how to help children to recognise their own emotions or how others feel, particularly when a child is upset at the action of another.
• Parents give positive feedback about the nursery and staff. They say that their children have settled in well and feel confident to talk to staff about their children's progress. Staff give parents suggestions of activities they can do at home. This helps to support the continuity of care and learning between home and the setting.
• The manager is highly committed to the continual development of staff skills and knowledge. She ensures that training courses offered are well targeted to staff needs, and organises visits to other settings following the same philosophy as the nursery for staff, to enhance and develop their knowledge and skills.
• The manager and staff team evaluate all aspects of the nursery thoroughly. They set precise goals for improvement, such as to enhance the new cabin for individual work for children with SEND with a sensory path, to promote the best outcomes for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further help children to develop the emotional literacy they need to express themselves and to understand the emotions of others.