The Enchanted Castle (Day Nursery) Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide warm and consistent care at this welcoming nursery. Children thrive as they develop self-assurance and positive relationships with staff. Staff interact calmly and sensitively with children, reinforcing simple behaviour boundaries. Children gain the skills they need to manage their feelings in their own way and are well behaved. The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Children enjoy playing outdoors. They are fascinated about the world around them as they explore the well-resourced garden. For example, they develop their imagination as they play pretend shops in the wooden play house.

Children enjoy the fun of swooping up and away on the safe and secure play apparatus. They develop their fine motor skills, such as when they grip the handlebars of small wheeled toys. They also extend their balance and coordination as they ride the wheeled toys. Children laugh and giggle as they play with the water fountain and collect water in jugs. They watch as they pour the water down the funnel into the bucket at the bottom. This helps support children's mathematical understanding of weight and measure and of the science of how the water trickles down the tubes.

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

• Leaders and staff have worked hard to address the actions raised at the last inspection. They have improved risk assessments and all staff hold paediatric first-aid certificates. In addition, some staff have developed their knowledge of care for children aged under two years through further training. Leaders have strengthened their policy for staff supervisions. All of these measures demonstrate a positive attitude towards improvement and development, which helps support children's care and learning.
• Staff provide a well-planned curriculum that supports children's care and learning. Staff carry out on-entry observations and continuous assessments so that they understand children's individual needs. Children make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared for their eventual move to school.
• Staff support children with additional needs well. They work closely with parents and external agencies and share and reinforce targets. They ensure children get the help they need and put plans in place so that children achieve and fulfil their individual potential.
• Staff interact well with the children and encourage and support their learning as they play. However, not all staff consistently extend learning opportunities so that children receive wider learning through more of the areas of learning.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents speak highly of the staff and are happy with the good progress that their child has made since starting. They say that staff keep them updated about their child's day and that there is a parent app to support communication between staff and parents. However, staff do not consistently keep all parents updated about their child's next steps in learning so they are aware of the learning that has been planned for their child.
• Staff support children to use their natural curiosity and engage their senses as they squeeze, poke and pull a range of natural materials to build sand castles.
• Children learn about the benefits of good health. For example staff provide healthy meals at snack time and lunchtime. Children practise their physical skills as they pour, feed themselves, wash their hands before eating and clear away their plates after eating. Staff provide healthy foods, such as fruit at snack time and rice, chicken and vegetables for lunch.
• Staff provide exciting activities, such as hand printing, to help support children's learning. For example, children explore the world of colour as they mix colours, and they develop their pre-writing skills as they hold the brushes and paint their hands.
• Children enjoy role play as they act out cooking scenarios using play pots, pans and food. This helps children to get ready for success by preparing them to learn skills about how to handle situations and develop skills for the future.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement a wider range of the areas of learning during their interactions with children, to support their learning fully.
• place a sharper focus on ensuring all parents are made aware of their child's next steps in learning.