The Barn Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this nursery with smiles on their faces. Relationships between staff and children are strong. Staff care deeply about every child and want the best for them. They know the children well, which enables them to be responsive to children's interests and make sure that children's needs are fully understood and met.

Children love taking part in the stimulating and exciting activities. Babies explore sponges filled with soap. They poke and squeeze the sponge with their fingers as they make sense of the world around them. Older children are confident and articulate when expressing their thoughts and ideas to others. They develop curiosity, and staff encourage them to show great creativity in their play. For example, children join in with, and come up with, many games with the extensive range of resources. They have fun learning how to look after and water the plants in the allotment area. They care for wildlife and recall how bees collect pollen to make honey.

Children behave well and develop friendships with one another. Staff working with babies are especially mindful of each child's immediate personal and emotional needs. They use smiles, praise and cuddles to reassure babies and build really strong bonds with them. Babies and toddlers show that they are incredibly settled and secure at nursery.

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

• The managers have created an ambitious curriculum. Staff regularly check what children know and can do. They use this information effectively to close any gaps in understanding and plan what children should learn and practise next. This helps to ensure that children's understanding builds up successfully.
• The development of children's language and communication is a high priority at the nursery. Staff thread it throughout all aspects of the provision. They model and continually develop children's vocabulary. Older children are confident at expressing their ideas and opinions. For example, they explain what the words, 'predator' and 'camouflage' means.
• Staff regularly read and share stories with children. They create exciting opportunities for children to bring the stories to life, such as using role play and props to retell the stories. Staff support children to develop a good understanding of letters and associated sounds. Children practise this often, and this prepares them for learning phonics when they move on to school.
• Staff plan activities so that children get first-hand experiences of the wider world. They use real-life resources to support children to practise and apply what they have learned. For instance, they carefully arrange fresh flowers and petals in between the folds of white cloth, which they beat with a small hammer. Children are enthralled and call out the different colours that emerge.
• Staff are skilled at supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children's needs are met through careful planning. Managers and staff work closely with external agencies and families so that children's needs are understood. They make sure that children with SEND receive the support that they need to flourish in their learning.
• Lunchtimes are calm and relaxing social experiences for children. Babies and toddlers develop their independence as they feed themselves and learn to use the cutlery. Staff sit with the children and engage them in conversations, enhancing their awareness of the healthy food choices they have and the importance of staying hydrated.
• Staff provide an excellent outdoor learning environment for children and a wealth of opportunities to develop children's physical skills. They teach children how to keep themselves safe, including how to climb trees and use equipment and resources safely.
• Although behaviour management is good, staff sometimes do not consider how to help older children have a clearer understanding of how long they need to wait for a turn and how to encourage independent negotiation.
• The managers place partnerships with parents at the centre of all their work. Staff keep parents very well informed on what their children are learning and how they can help.
• Staff receive sufficient coaching and access regular training so that they can further develop their skills. However, managers do not always analyse the impact of training thoroughly enough. Staff are proud to work at the nursery and feel that managers are very considerate of their well-being and workload.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to support children to develop their understanding and self-management in taking turns, to extend children's independence and confidence even further
• ensure consistency in staff's knowledge and understanding by having a clearer oversight of the impact of training undertaken.