The Little Ripley Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly and get involved in activities that are matched to their stages of development and interests. They enjoy close relationships with familiar staff, who are attentive, affectionate and playful. Babies are confident to explore outdoors and indoors, and they are supported well to use what is available and try new experiences. For example, babies enjoy exploring a variety of materials, such as cereals and ice. Activities are used skilfully to encourage children to use their senses and increase their vocabulary. For example, children in the tweenies room are eager to make farm animal sounds, and they sing as they play with the animals in the straw and compost.

Children benefit from a programme of activities that provide them with the experiences and skills that they need for future learning. For example, children in pre-school behave well and show high levels of attention and listen well during circle time. They are eager to sing the days of the week and months of the year, and recall the story of the week. Children in the little learners room are equally as motivated as they solve the problems that they encounter when rolling conkers down tubing. From an early age, all children show a keen interest in making marks in a variety of ways. For example, children busily use chalk and wipe-clean boards to make their creations.

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

• The senior leadership team provides effective direction to the manager to ensure the successful implementation of the curriculum. The curriculum is designed around the changing seasons, popular topics, special events and children's interests. Staff effectively use their daily observations of what children enjoy and can do to guide their planning and teaching.
• Staff place a high focus on supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work closely with parents and effectively use any targets set by other professionals working with children to help close gaps in their learning. They swiftly identify any children who may benefit from additional support, such as with speech and language, and provide targeted interventions to support them.
• Promoting children's communication and language is a clear priority. Books, songs and musical instruments are incorporated extremely well into the daily planning to inspire children to learn. For example, staff plan activities around the most-popular books to capture children's imagination and reinforce what children are being taught. This love for books is further extended through the book lending library, which is popular with parents and children.
• Staff provide a varied range of mathematical activities for children. For example, many children enjoy counting, and consider size and weight as they play.
• However, some mathematical activities are not as popular with some children, particularly the boys. This is because, on occasions, these activities are not inspiring enough, and children choose other activities instead.
• Staff work closely with parents from the outset to get to know their family circumstances, including any cultural differences and children's unique personalities. Parents receive detailed information about their children's progress. Parents' feedback is positive. They are impressed by the quality of the meals, range of experiences on offer, and the progress that their children make. They appreciate the advice on supporting potty training and how to increase their children's language skills.
• Staff have a deep understanding of the benefits of promoting babies' and children's physical development. They provide ample opportunities for all children, including babies, to increase their shoulder, arm, hand and finger strength and to increase their large motor skills. Staff teach children about the importance of eating healthy foods, limiting sugar and how to ensure good oral hygiene.
• Staff benefit from regular training and guidance on how to provide good-quality activities. The management team regularly monitors the good quality of teaching across the nursery. However, they do not always identify very precisely how each member of staff can further develop their teaching to the highest level. For example, on occasions, staff do not give children enough time to explore the activities, and they interrupt children's play by asking too many questions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide inspiring opportunities for children to explore mathematical concepts through the activities and experiences that they enjoy most, in order to further develop their learning of mathematics
• build on staff professional development opportunities to help to sustain and build on the good quality of teaching achieved.