The Jesmond Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy on arrival at the nursery. They are eager and have great enthusiasm for the day ahead. Children have excellent relationships with staff and their peers. They know daily routines well and settle to play with their friends with great confidence.

Staff effortlessly follow children's emerging interests and help them to develop a strong sense of belonging and excellent emotional stability. Staff organise the environment to provide children with outstanding experiences and activities, indoors and outdoors, to enthral and excite them in their play. Young children become deeply engaged. For example, they explore different ways to make marks on different surfaces in the garden. There is a lovely calm atmosphere throughout the nursery and garden. Older children become involved in planting seeds and develop the understanding that they need soil, water and the sun to grow.

Staff have an admirable understanding of how children all develop at different rates and how to plan to provide further challenges for their learning. Children are well behaved. They eagerly follow staff's instructions. Children are highly motivated and eager to join in. They learn to share resources and how to cooperate with each other.

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

• Children benefit from a management team that is strong and works exceptionally well together. The curriculum is embedded throughout the nursery and understood by everyone. The manager clearly explains her expectations for children's learning. Staff closely monitor children's progress and follow their emerging interests, including what they have been doing at home. Children flourish in this inspiring environment.
• Staff's interactions with children are of a high quality. Staff give children the time to work things out for themselves. They review with children what they have learned. This helps staff to plan clear next steps for development. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make steady progress. Staff work closely with other professionals and parents to make sure that they understand the child and what they can do to help them develop to their full potential.
• Partnership working with parents is excellent. Staff share daily information with parents via the online application that they use and through discussions and conversations. Parents express their utmost satisfaction with the nursery. They make comments such as, 'Staff go above and beyond to ensure my child's safety and that they are happy' and, ' Staff are always keen to help and discuss things. It has made us feel safe and heard'.
• Parents are welcomed into the setting to share their professions with children.
• For example, a solar physicist has been in to talk to children. This raised children's interests and they had a trip to the planetarium. On the day of the inspection, a parent led a movement session. Children had great fun as they learned how to warm their bodies up and how to stretch. They followed directions really well and learned how to move their bodies like animals.
• Children develop excellent communication and language skills from a young age. Staff talk to children throughout activities. This leads to conversations and the introduction of new words. For example, during planting activities, staff discuss how soil is made. They introduce words such as 'decomposition' and 'compost'. Staff are enthusiastic in their readiness to listen to children. Children become effective communicators. They love chatting to staff and visitors.
• Children develop a passion for books. They have access to a huge variety of reading materials to inspire them further. Babies enjoy looking at pictures with staff. Older children respond with comprehension to familiar stories. For example, they re-enact a favourite story in their play as they pretend to look for a bear in the garden. This forms the basis of early reading skills.
• The management and senior team support the staff with highly effective supervisions. Staff take complete ownership of their roles and responsibilities. Their professional development is planned with precision and has a true impact on the experiences and progress of children.