The Little Ripley Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff carefully plan the environment to ensure the resources and activities positively impact children's outcomes. For example, leaders have purposefully created a sensory room for those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to regulate their emotions. Younger children benefit from large play equipment indoors, where they learn to climb and balance, and table-top activities to strengthen their early standing. Additionally, children engage in daily outdoor play, where they further develop their excellent physical skills.

Staff skilfully deploy themselves to engage in children's learning and purposefully invite others to join their play. This positively contributes towards children's enthusiasm to learn and high levels of confidence in social situations. For instance, toddlers hand the inspector a colouring crayon, inviting them to join their mark-making activity. New babies demonstrate that they feel emotionally secure as they build early attachments with staff. Parents and carers report on how comfortable they feel leaving their children in 'safe hands'. This is reflected in how well children settle.

Staff support children to become independent. For example, children learn to wash their hands before eating, self-serve their own meals and pour their own drinks. They enjoy making independent choices for where they want to play and what with. For instance, young children carefully fill small bowls with pretend food, which they happily transport into other areas. They have the freedom to lead and enhance their own learning. This promotes their outstanding behaviour.

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

• Staff support children's personal development in many ways. For instance, toddlers gain a strong sense of self through activities which teach them to share resources and practise using their peers' names. Staff understand that some children need more time than others to regulate their emotions and when children are ready, they sensitively include them in group activities.
• Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. For example, children stop to listen to staff, who give them clear and consistent messages about what constitutes acceptable behaviour. They sensibly walk up the stairs to their playroom firmly holding the handrail and keeping themselves safe. Staff frequently praise children, explaining why they are being praised, such as thanking them for being kind.
• Opportunities for mark making are abundant, encouraging children to express themselves in various ways. They learn to use a variety of tools with precision. For example, they show high levels of concentration as they slowly draw around a solid shape with the intent to create a picture of a house. They develop good coordination and control over their fine motor movements.
• In response to recent mathematical training, staff focus on strengthening children's number sense. For instance, they encourage them to collect various items to count, practise number recognition and write numbers. Staff use every opportunity to develop children's mathematical language, such as using words like 'full' and 'empty' as children fill up pots with soil.
• Parents are fully involved in their children's learning. For instance, leaders have created a lending library for parents to borrow books to share with their children at home. They encourage parents to use speech and language tools to create precise next steps for those children who speak English as an additional language. Furthermore, they respectfully seek parents' views prior to liaising with any external professionals when matters relate to children's development. Parents speak highly of the setting. They say, 'The aunties are very personable', keeping them well informed about their children's learning.
• Strong working relationships with schoolteachers promote a seamless transition ensuring that all children, including those with SEND, continue to get the support that they need. Staff focus on building children's confidence, helping them to understand what to expect when they start school. Additionally, they share information with parents so that they too can promote children's school readiness.
• The special educational needs coordinator is highly trained to meet the individual needs of SEND children. She works effectively with other professionals and attends focused workshops at specialist schools to identify what further support she can offer children at the setting. Consequently, children with SEND and those from disadvantaged backgrounds progress well.
• Staff model language as children play. They talk clearly and slowly, encouraging children to repeat sounds and words back. However, some staff's questioning techniques do not always encourage children to share their ideas or extend their vocabulary. Furthermore, staff do not always provide the most-able children with the greatest level of challenge to build on their current knowledge and skills.
• Leaders are committed to extending staff's good knowledge, skills and practice. For instance, training is targeted based on children's needs and any identified gaps in practice. Leaders pride themselves in creating a caring and nurturing setting, resulting in high levels of staff retention and job satisfaction. They truly value staff and support them well.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make the most of all interactions with children to offer them more challenge and further their communication skills, focusing particularly on the use of closed questions.