The Co-operative Childcare Tadworth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are provided with a curriculum that motivates them to learn. There are high expectations for all children, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children develop good control of their movements while energetically riding bicycles up and down the gradual slope in the garden. The nursery has received an Eco Green Flag award. Children plant and grow fruit and vegetables in the nursery garden and learn about the importance of recycling. They enjoy picking and eating the things they grow, such as tomatoes and raspberries. Younger children make discoveries as they crawl in and out of small dens and learn to jump safely off old car tyres in the garden. Children thoroughly enjoy singing and dancing activities. They learn about numbers while using musical instruments and widen their vocabulary as they join in the songs. Children are happy and settled and behave very well. They develop good social skills and often laugh and smile during activities, for instance while playing imaginatively with dolls with their friends. Children develop a keen interest in books and bring their favourite ones to nursery from home. They enjoy learning how to use tablets to take photos of the pictures in books. All children learn to be helpful and independent.

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

• Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of how to plan and use activities to help children learn and develop in all areas of the curriculum. They support children to develop the knowledge and skills they need so they are ready for the next stage in their learning. For instance, they provide resources, such as pens and clipboards and paint, which children thoroughly enjoy using to make marks and develop pre-writing skills.
• Staff evaluate how children use the resources. For example, in the baby room, staff noticed that the children who were mobile kept trying to climb on the chairs. Therefore, they decided to provide a low-level slide. This has captured the babies' interest and successfully supported their physical development. Babies are keen to have go at crawling up a slope and going down the slide independently.
• Staff are positive role models. They know the children well, have a caring approach and respond to children's emotional needs. Children confidently approach staff to ask for a hug. Staff support older children to learn to take turns with sharing the resources, such as the bikes, for instance by showing them how to use a large egg timer, which they have started to use together independently.
• The two special educational needs coordinators work well together and with staff to support children with SEND. They communicate regularly with parents and other agencies to update and implement children's support plans. Managers make good use of local authority funding, for instance to provide individual support for children who need extra help.
• Staff support children who speak more than one language to communicate, for example by signing and using a few words in their home languages. However, staff do not encourage children to use their home languages in their play to further support their language development.
• Managers receive good support from a quality training adviser within the cooperative organisation, for example to recruit and induct new staff and apprentices and provide staff training. However, managers do not consider ways to enhance the training staff receive to further improve children's good care and learning, for instance through monitoring staff practice more closely.
• Staff have improved the opportunities for parents to continue their children's learning at home. They share information with parents about how to help babies who have allergies to eat well and ways to manage children's behaviour. Staff have also improved the learning opportunities for children during daily routine tasks.
• Managers and staff seek parents' and children's views about the nursery and their ideas for change. For example, a child said they would like their nanny to come to the nursery, so staff organised grandparents' days.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to strengthen the monitoring of staff practice so that staff receive coaching and support that help them to further improve the good quality of children's care and learning
• increase the opportunities for children to use their home languages in their play, to further support their language development.