The Farm Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy to arrive at this welcoming nursery. They demonstrate a good understanding of routines in the day and settle quickly. They develop good self-confidence and take a pride in their achievements, such as showing staff the work they have done and sharing their home news. For example, children create an 'all about me' box at home with three of their favourite things, which they share with the other children in the group at circle time. Children show a positive attitude to their learning. They show motivation and are eager to join in. The well-organised environment promotes children's natural curiosity and eagerness to learn. Children benefit from a good range of experiences that prepare them well for their future success. For example, they develop their confidence and social skills and learn to manage their behaviour, while interacting with others. Children develop good communication skills and confidently articulate what they know and can do. They play imaginatively, pretending to build dens from boxes, and practise digging and scooping as they play in the vegetable patch.

Children's behaviour is good. They learn about the nursery rules and boundaries and what staff expect of them. Children are kind and friendly towards each other. Staff regularly praise them for sharing and being kind to others. During the COVID- 19 pandemic, staff kept in touch with parents via emails and provided activities and story times which they shared with all families. Staff have adapted the setting to help keep children safe during this time. For example, children take part in additional handwashing, parents collect and drop off at the outside gate and additional cleaning is in place.

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

• Staff use children's interests and starting points to plan activities. They observe and assess children accurately to identify what they need to learn next and use this information to help children progress. However, staff do not consistently keep parents informed about their child's next stage of development so that parents can support this learning even further at home.
• Staff help children to learn about the positive impact of caring for the environment and reusing materials to prevent waste. For example, children learn how to make compost from plants and vegetables. They use this to feed the soil and plants in the nursery garden to help them grow.
• Children learn to be independent and manage their self-care needs on their own. For instance, they use the toilet themselves and learn to dress for outdoor play. Children help with small tasks, such as setting up the plates and cups for lunch, which helps them to gain a sense of responsibility.
• Staff support children to develop good health and well-being. They provide healthy food for them to eat, plan opportunities for regular outdoor exercise and talk to them about brushing their teeth.
• Children develop their curiosity about the wider world, for example as they engage in daily outdoor experiences. The staff are enthusiastic about providing rich and exciting opportunities for children to explore the woodland, farm and large outdoor spaces, as well as developing their physical skills. Children show great enjoyment in using real spades to prepare the soil for vegetables. They enjoy selecting home-grown vegetables from the farm, using tools, such as wheelbarrows and visiting the animals. Children have many opportunities to balance on logs, climb trees and develop their understanding of playing safely. For example, staff teach the children how to manage slippery surfaces with care.
• The manager works closely with the staff team to reflect on what works well and what needs to improve. They constantly review the provision and actively seek the views of children and parents to help them to make continuous improvements.
• Generally, the quality of teaching is good. However, the monitoring of staff practice is not yet focused sharply enough on raising the quality of individual staff teaching to the highest level, to benefit children.
• Staff work well to create a stimulating learning environment. For instance, they arrange resources so these are fully accessible to children and allow them to follow their interests. They support children to confidently make choices in their play.
• Staff support children's development of communication and language well. They carefully challenge every child according to their level of development. They introduce new vocabulary, simple sentences and complex statements. They encourage children to recall and retell stories to help them to share experiences and books with others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the information sharing with parents about their children's individual next steps for learning and how they can support this at home
• strengthen the monitoring of staff performance and focus even more precisely on identifying how individual staff can raise the quality of their teaching to the highest level to benefit children's development.