The Grange Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are generally very happy and settled. They enter excitedly and are eager to start playing and learning. Staff show warmth and affection towards the children, many of whom have been attending since they were babies. They offer a friendly and cheerful greeting and give reassuring cuddles and words where newer children are upset to help them to feel safe and secure.

Staff plan broad educational programmes that help all children to make good progress and prepare them for school, including funded children. They chat away to children as they play and explore, building on their early speech. For example, staff describe the crunchy texture of the dried cereal and slimy cooked spaghetti. Older children remember words, such as 'cocoon', while talking about life cycles. Staff constantly encourage children's early independence during daily routines. They have high aspirations for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They integrate children superbly into nursery life.

Staff are good role models who teach children to be kind, caring and respectful. They positively reinforce behavioural expectations as two-year-old children learn important social skills, such as sharing and taking turns. Children aged three and four years are highly sociable and well behaved. They work out where a particular piece of the puzzle fits and enjoy shared experiences. For example, they embark on an intriguing outdoor bug hunt, armed with a magnifying glass and laminated checklist.

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

• Staff continually observe and assess children's progress to plan for their interests, next steps and any developmental delay. They swiftly intervene to help close any gaps, including those resulting from the pandemic. Staff work tirelessly to support children with SEND. They do this in excellent partnership with parents and other professionals.
• Staff gather a variety of information about new children, such as through an 'all-about-me' document. However, this is obtained when children formally start, rather then being used to help staff inform children's settling-in visits. In addition, for some younger children, settling-in visits are not long enough to fully support their emotional well-being to the highest level.
• Staff link many activities to help children to remember what they want them to learn. For example, while teaching children about minibeasts, children make insects using dough, learn about the life cycle of the butterfly first hand and enjoy a story about a hungry caterpillar.
• Staff's enthusiasm enhances children's fun, enjoyment and engagement. For example, they share children's excitement at finding different creatures, such as a tiny ladybird in a tyre, and model rolling a dough ball. However, sometimes, staff do not broaden children's knowledge as they find the insects or recognise when children need greater support while using dough tools.
• Children develop their physical skills in many ways. For example, toddlers clamber over soft blocks and roll balls down plastic guttering. Two-year-old children step across large tyres, stretch the slimy spaghetti and skilfully use tongs and tweezers. Older children show great confidence while using the monkey bar, wooden climbing pyramid and balance bike. They competently use cutlery and mark-making resources.
• Staff promote children's good health and understanding of healthy lifestyles exceptionally well. For example, they model and instil good hygiene routines, and children thoroughly enjoy the hearty homemade hotpot. Children grow and cook fruit, herbs and vegetables, and they collect eggs from the pet chicken. This also helps them to learn about where food comes from.
• Staff sing songs, look at books with children and use sign language to build on children's communication and early literacy skills. Older children enjoy joining in with actions, such as slithering like a snake, as they sing songs that help them learn letters and sounds.
• Staff encourage and support children to manage tasks that help to develop their independence skills, such as putting on outdoor clothing, pouring drinks and serving lunch.
• Staff foster children's self-esteem and confidence effectively. For example, they praise children for their 'super-duper' singing and 'lovely manners'. They calmly help younger children to manage their feelings, when minor disputes occur over the same toy, for example.
• Staff communicate with parents electronically, face to face and via social media, for example, and parents express a great fondness and appreciation of the nursery. However, staff do not consistently share information in enough detail about what children are learning next and how parents can support this at home to optimise children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the settling-in process to support new children's transition to the nursery to the highest level
• build on the systems for monitoring staff's practice, in order to strengthen staff's teaching strategies
• extend the information that is shared with parents to help children to make even better progress.