The Acorn Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

There is a strong parent partnership at this nurturing nursery. Staff work closely with children and their parents. They ensure that when children start at the nursery, they quickly start feeling safe and secure. Children are happy and form strong bonds with all members of staff. Staff know children well and carefully plan activities to meet the needs of all learners. Parents are given ideas of how to support their children at home, for example with potty training and starting school.

Children behave well. Staff use a small bell to attract children's attention, to support them to listen when it's time to start a new activity. Children understand the nursery's 'golden rules' of being kind, taking turns and using their 'walking feet' inside. Children follow staff's instructions to wait for their turn when washing their hands and using the toilet.

The nursery promotes a love for music. Children enjoy learning familiar songs and nursery-specific songs. For example, they sing, accompanied by the piano, to a range of their chosen action songs. They excitedly add the names of the different animals that they meet, as they sing along to 'On the way to Buttercup Farm'. On occasion parents are invited to join the music sessions with their children.

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

• Children have access to a range of activities to support their fine motor development. For example, they enjoy using rolling pins and cutters to manipulate play dough, and painting pictures on large easels. Staff support and encourage children as they add collage materials to their painted paper plates to make their pig faces.
• Children are encouraged to be imaginative, as they dress up as explorers in search of dinosaurs. They dig for fossils in sand and use binoculars and magnifying glasses to examine their findings. Younger children enjoy sorting the various farm animals into the farmyard. This supports children's skills in knowledge and understanding of the world.
• Staff carefully plan activities to support children's mathematical development. Children enjoy counting, matching and sequencing coloured dinosaurs. Younger children enjoy using large bricks to build towers. Staff model the mathematical language of 'one more', as they build their towers even higher.
• Staff adopt a positive approach to behaviour management. They remind children of their expectations of behaviour around the nursery and children respond well. They model how to show kindness to children through their actions as well as their planned activities. For example, to celebrate Valentine's Day, they ask children to talk about why their friends are special to them.
• Children are encouraged to become confident, independent learners. They hang up their own coats and bags, they pour their own milk at snack time and help themselves to a range of healthy fruits and vegetables. Staff talk to them about the benefits of what they are eating. They discuss the importance of vitamins as part of a healthy, balanced diet and how the calcium in the milk helps to develop strong teeth and bones.
• Staff carefully plan focused activities to support children's interests and next steps. Most staff adapt these to allow children to lead their own play and learning. However, not all staff encourage and support children to further develop their self-initiated play. This leads to children losing interest in their chosen activity. Further support from staff would ensure children fully develop their imaginative and problem-solving skills.
• Staff receive regular training to ensure they are meeting the needs of all children. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children with English as an additional language (EAL) are supported well. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that children have highly effective targeted plans in place. Parents know their children's targets and feel their children are fully prepared for their next stages in learning, including starting school.
• The manager shows passion for continuous improvement. She supports staff through supervision meetings, and ensures that they have access to a range of training opportunities around their chosen interests. Staff are extremely happy to be part of this committed and dedicated team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further support staff to encourage children's self-initiated play to enhance their imaginative and problem-solving skills.