The Meadows Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are enthusiastic, happy and excited to see staff. They are eager to start the day, confidently find their friends and settle quickly into play. This shows that children feel safe and secure. Furthermore, children show high levels of independence. For example, they spread toppings on crackers and peel bananas at snack time. This helps to prepare children well for their next stage in learning.

Children are beginning to understand about the world, including the local community. For example, they enjoy visits from the police and fire service. This helps them to recognise people in society who help to keep them safe. Furthermore, children look at books and listen to stories about people in other countries. This helps them to learn about and respect other cultures.

Children are polite and enthusiastic learners. They thoroughly enjoy a range of activities that successfully ignite their curiosity. For example, they are excited to find worms and other insects as they go on a bug hunt in the garden. This also helps them to learn about nature and the wildlife found in gardens. Furthermore, children learn about nature and growing when they plant flowers and vegetables.

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

• The manager has a clear vision of what she wants children to learn. The curriculum focuses on children's stages of development, interests and individual needs. For example, older children learn how to put on their own coats in preparation for starting school.
• Staff observe children's play and use the information gathered to monitor their progress. This helps them to prepare activities to ensure that children continue to improve. For example, small-group activities are planned to help children develop their social skills and make friendships.
• Staff work closely with parents and form strong partnerships with them. They use a range of ways, such as a book swap, to help families share learning with their children. Overall, parents feel included in their child's learning and informed of their progress. However, occasionally, children's next steps, including targeted learning plans, are not fully shared with parents. This means that parents cannot always build on children's learning at home.
• Staff use a variety of ways to support children to successfully develop their communication and language skills. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they use picture cards and visual timetables to help children understand what comes next and to learn new words. This also helps children who speak English as an additional language to communicate their needs.
• Staff support children to develop good manners. For example, they encourage them to take turns and share resources. This also enhances children's social skills. Children have good attitudes to learning and enjoy activities that encourage them to explore and investigate. For instance, they are fascinated when they add objects to a tray of water to see if they will sink or float.
• Overall, staff support children well during transitions such as starting at the nursery and moving on to school. However, some daily transitions, such as washing hands for lunch and getting ready to go outside, take a long time. As a result, some children become bored and restless. Therefore, learning is not as effective at these times.
• Children of all ages learn how to stay healthy. For instance, young children enthusiastically clean laminated pictures of teeth with toothbrushes and toothpaste. Furthermore, older children learn how to manage their own personal needs. For example, they wipe their own noses and take themselves to the toilet.
• The manager ensures that additional funding is spent well. For example, she has purchased equipment such as crates and beams to enhance the outdoor learning curriculum. This helps all children to develop their physical skills and benefit from fresh air throughout the day.
• The manager regularly monitors staff performance, which helps her to evaluate the quality of teaching and care. She uses the information gathered to help to identify any weaknesses in staff practice and to target professional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve sharing of children's learning with parents, including targeted plans, to enable them to further build on children's learning at home
• review daily routines to ensure that children do not wait for long periods between activities.