The Bluebell Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a highly inclusive and supportive learning environment for all children. Children feel safe and show strong attachments as they happily chat with staff and friends. Staff support children's emotional well-being and help children to develop an awareness of their feelings. Staff use their knowledge of children's interests to provide an ambitious curriculum, which builds on what they know and can do. All children make good progress from their starting points. Staff skilfully help children to develop good communication skills, including those who speak English as an additional language. Staff value what children have to say as they encourage conversations about their home lives and favourite things. Children enjoy outings in their local community and staff encourage children to develop a 'can-do' attitude to new experiences. They offer support when children are unsure, such as holding their hands to help them feel confident to run up and down a hill while out on a walk.

Children behave well, are keen to learn and staff regularly praise children for their achievements. Children demonstrate curiosity, and determination to persevere in tasks. Staff know when children need time to work out things for themselves and when to offer help to keep them motivated, such as while they build with bricks.

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

• Children and families benefit from the support of a multi-lingual staff team. Staff speak to children in their home language. They also work with parents to learn key words in languages they may not be familiar with. This helps all children to feel welcome and understood, which helps them to settle in quickly. Staff ask parents to provide a story book in their child's home language to provide familiarity for children when they start.
• Staff work in partnership with parents and other professionals effectively. Where children require additional support in their learning, staff seek and act on advice from specialists. Staff have attended training to support children's speech and language. They use assessment tools to help them to monitor children's speech and language development. They act swiftly to implement targeted strategies, such as language activities in small groups, to close emerging gaps in children's learning.
• Staff teaching is good. They interact with children well to encourage their communication and thinking skills. Staff narrate and comment on children's play alongside them. They ask them open-ended questions to support them to talk about their previous experiences, such as visits to the doctor or dentist. However, occasionally staff do not extend and deepen children's learning as much as they could to further develop their knowledge.
• Children have wonderful opportunities to explore the local environment. Staff make very good use of the local woodland and park areas and visit them regularly with the children. Children get plenty of fresh air and exercise and have fun while climbing over fallen trees and navigating pathways. Children learn about nature as staff encourage them to listen to the birds singing and spot the squirrels. Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe while out and about. They remind children of rules such as staying close to adults and not to approach dogs without permission.
• Children are developing an understanding of early mathematics. Staff encourage counting, number recognition and play number hunt games with children. Children also learn about different shapes and staff encourage them to notice and count the number of sides each shape has.
• Staff receive regular support through effective supervision. The manager monitors staff performance and meets with them regularly. Together, they discuss new ideas, targets to work towards, and training that may benefit their practice with children. The staff team have a close and open working relationship. Staff know that they can discuss any worries or concerns as they arise at any time and feel fully supported within their roles.
• Parents have the utmost praise for the nursery. They say they feel well informed about their child's time at the nursery. Staff provide parents with regular progress updates, including photos of children participating in activities. Parents say they are impressed with the progress their children make. They commend staff on how well they support their children to speak fluent English.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's interactions to consistently extend and deepen children's learning to maximise their progress.