The Home Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are encouraged to manage their self-care skills. For example, when children in the toddler room receive a wet wipe to clean their face and they say that they cannot do it, staff ask them to try first and then offer help if needed. Children learn how to take care of their personal belongings, helping them to learn skills in preparation for school. For example, in the toddler room, children are asked to put the food they do not want in their lunch boxes when they have finished. In the pre-school room, staff ask children to look after their bags, such as to put them on pegs in the garden in preparation for when they go home.

Children show excitement to play team games. For example, pre-school children smile with staff and their peers when they are asked by staff to take it in turns to count while their peers hide from them in the garden. Children crouch behind apparatus and excitedly anticipate when they will be found. Children are supported to develop their thinking skills. For instance, in the toddler room, staff ask children questions and give them time to respond. In the baby room, staff sing songs with children and provide opportunities for them to listen to stories. This helps to develop their early speaking skills.

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

• The manager and provider support staff's professional development. For example, staff attend training courses to extend their knowledge of how to implement a curriculum for communication and language. For instance, staff introduce key words in each of the playrooms to help support children's developing vocabulary.
• The manager, provider and staff reflect on the experiences they offer children. Recent improvements include staff using smaller rooms in the nursery to take children to meet their individual needs. For example, these rooms are used for staff to take children with special educational needs and/or disabilities when they need quiet times or to be physically active.
• Staff provide children with their own toothbrushes and help them to learn how to clean their teeth, such as after breakfast. This contributes to supporting children's oral hygiene. Staff and the nursery cook offer children healthy meals, contributing to children receiving a nutritious diet. Children develop their knowledge of how food grows, for instance, when they help staff to plant and grow potatoes in the garden.
• Staff in the pre-school room support the language skills of children who speak English as an additional language well. For example, staff who are multilingual speak to children in their home language and English. However, in the baby room, staff do not implement agreed strategies to support children who speak English as an additional language, to understand daily routines. For example, agreed strategies between the manager and staff to show children images and words in their home language to help them be prepared for changes during the day, such as nappy changes, are not implemented by staff.
• Overall, staff support children to show positive behaviour well. For example, in the pre-school room, staff play games with children, such as to throw and catch balls, helping them to learn how to take turns. However, staff in the toddler room do not manage children's behaviour consistently. For example, they ask children to share but do not show them how to do this.
• The manager spends additional funding that some children receive to help narrow gaps in their understanding of mathematics. He supports staff to adapt their interactions when they use mathematical equipment to help build on children's knowledge of, for instance, weight, measure, numbers and counting.
• Staff help children to be emotionally ready for possible changes they may face at home, such as new siblings in the family. For example, staff in the baby room use toy dolls to show children what babies may need, such as clothing, hats, sun cream and dummies.
• Staff keep parents informed about their children's care and activities they enjoy. They support parents to continue their children's learning at home. For example, children borrow books to encourage their parents to read to them. This contributes to a united approach to supporting children's development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in the baby room to implement agreed strategies to help children who speak English as an additional language, to understand daily routines
• develop staff's interactions with children in the toddler room so they are consistent in managing children's behaviour.