The Butterfly Patch Sutton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Mixed ages of children keenly play and learn alongside one another. Children consistently show positive behaviour. They follow routines with great eagerness and use good manners, when they are sensitively prompted by staff. Staff are good role models, who are kind and caring in their approach.

Children benefit from lots of fresh air and physical exercise. This is demonstrated when they eagerly explore the natural environment. Children successfully make a den and learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, they confidently recognise brambles and learn how to use hammers safely. Children enthusiastically say, 'Prickles might hurt us.'

Children's curiosity and a love for learning are promoted well. Staff provide a wide range of experiences that help to ignite children's curiosity and help them to think critically. Staff follow children's interests and what they know and can do, to skilfully support children to direct their own learning. Children's self-esteem and confidence are promoted well.

Children's emotional well-being is of high priority. Children build very positive attachments to their key person. Staff very successfully follow babies' home routines to help them to feel safe and emotionally secure. For example, staff very quickly recognise when babies are sleepy. They sit beside them and rub babies' backs until they fall asleep.

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

• The newly appointed manager very successfully describes the curriculum intent. She explains how children are supported to grow in confidence and independence, through trial and error. The manager says that through the implementation of the curriculum, children begin to develop a secure sense of self and what makes them unique. For example, children are given many opportunities to talk about their family backgrounds, celebrations and beliefs.
• The provider and leaders are very keen to provide high-quality care and education for all. Leaders encourage staff to reflect on practice and provision regularly to help them identify strengths and where improvements can be made. Robust action plans are in place to support continuous improvements. However, on occasion, staff do not ensure that the curriculum intent is implemented consistently throughout the day, particularly at times during the afternoon.
• Overall, the manager and staff engage successfully with parents to help to promote consistency in children's care, learning and development. For example, parents are welcome to visit the nursery to help staff to wean the youngest children. During the COVID-19 restrictions, parents were offered telephone consultations to continue to help keep them fully informed about their children's learning. However, information for parents about how they can raise a concern is not clear and readily available.
• Parents comment very positively about the nursery and staff. They say that children are provided with 'broad experiences' to help to build on their sense of community and within the school, where the nursery is based. This also helps with a smooth transition when it is time for children to move on to school.
• Children are consistently engaged in a challenging and stimulating learning environment, overall. For example, they concentrate as they prod, squeeze and manipulate dough with a range of interesting wooden materials. This also helps to promote children's imagination and creativity well. Outdoors, toddlers confidently negotiate steep slopes. They independently climb steps to the top of a wooden climbing frame, which helps to challenge their physical ability and skills well.
• The curriculum intent and implementation help to further support children's early communication and language skills to a good level. This is demonstrated when children successfully use Makaton signing, such as 'please' and 'more'. Staff consistently and positively interact with children, sing songs and read stories.
• During outdoor learning sessions, children show perseverance and pride in their achievements. For instance, children learn how to make a large den with rope and tarpaulin. They keenly wrap rope around posts and secure the tarpaulin with pegs. Children say, 'I did it,' as they learn how to use a hammer. Children giggle and scream when they crawl into a den that they helped to build together.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide parents with the correct procedures to follow to raise their concerns with external agencies, such as Ofsted
• monitor and raise the quality of the learning environment, particularly after mealtimes, so that the organisation of the environment consistently promotes children's focus to learn.