The Counting House Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident. Their emotional well-being is supported well. A secure key-person system helps children quickly feel settled. Children cheerfully call staff by name as they enter the room. Staff are warm and responsive. Children build close bonds with them. Babies seek out cuddles when tired. They fall asleep contentedly while snuggling up to their key person.

Staff praise children when they behave well. Children show good manners, such as at lunchtime and as they line up patiently to come indoors. Children confidently move their name to the green light on the self-registration system when they achieve something. Staff focus on highlighting positive behaviour. This helps children understand what is expected of them.

Leaders have developed an ambitious and inclusive curriculum for all children. Staff regularly assess children's learning and development. Their team meetings each term, where they discuss individual children's progress, help them to identify important next steps in learning. Staff plan activities linked to children's interests. For example, toddlers clean toy cars with soapy water, which follows their interest of transport. Older children learn about healthy bodies and bones. They make salt dough fossils and use soft dough to create body parts. Staff ask questions to encourage children to make predictions about what might happen next as they dip white wool into coloured water. Children are curious and enjoy testing out their ideas.

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

• The setting prides itself on being inclusive. One of the curriculum principles is 'access for all'. Staff receive inclusion training. The setting has been awarded a certificate of recognition for their inclusive practice. Staff review documents sent to parents about school readiness from the local authority. They adapt these to make sure they are inclusive for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children demonstrate a sense of belonging in the setting.
• Support for children with SEND is a strength of the setting. Leaders have introduced sessions for parents throughout the school holidays. Parents and children have ongoing support in place from trained staff. The setting actively seeks out support from other services. For example, they contact a national charity to help them understand the impact of visual impairment and to deliver training to staff. Children with SEND are well supported and make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff help children to learn new skills through their interactions with them. For example, when children struggle to use the scissors, staff offer two different types for them to try. Staff model how to use them. They praise children's efforts with meaningful praise and celebrate their success. Children persevere and quickly learn new skills.
• Staff generally support children's communication and language development well. They provide a narrative for children's play. Staff introduce new words, such as 'green beans' and 'butterfly', to help extend children's vocabulary. However, sometimes, staff talk too quickly. They do not pause to give children time they need to think, process information and practise their emerging language skills.
• Children have good opportunities to develop their physical skills. They run and jump outside, pretending to be superheroes while wearing capes. They squeeze, stretch and roll dough. Children operate large, scissor-like scoops to pick up sand outside. Children develop good physical abilities.
• The setting values the diverse backgrounds of children who attend the setting. They celebrate events that are important to children, such as Ramadan and Christmas. Staff gather information from parents of children who speak English as an additional language (EAL). However, they have not considered ways in which children who speak EAL can hear and use their home languages in the setting. Opportunities for children to learn about what makes them unique are, therefore, overlooked.
• Leaders have good oversight of the impact of the curriculum on children's development. They monitor the progress of groups of children to identify any gaps in learning. Additional funding is used to provide experiences such as sports coaching classes and mini zoo sessions to help children develop social, listening and attention skills. Any highlighted gaps are closed swiftly, and children make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff consistently support the development of children's thinking and language skills by pausing and giving them time they need to respond when interacting with them
• explore strategies for supporting children who speak EAL to use their home language in the setting.