The Mill Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at The Mill Nursery happy for their day to begin. They are met at the nursery door by warm and welcoming staff who support children to feel safe and secure. Staff promote a wonderfully nurturing environment which promotes close and trusting relationships with the children.

Children show curiosity and confidence as they move around the provision. The environment is well organised to enable children to make independent choices in their play. Staff continuously promote children's sense of belonging and emotional well-being through positive interactions. For example, staff offer the youngest children encouragement and praise as they begin to learn to walk. Children enjoy playing together to develop their imagination. For instance, they laugh together as they move their plastic cars and trucks along the car track and into various tunnels.

Staff gather detailed information from parents when children first start at the setting to enable effective planning for each child's next steps and interests. As staff are unable to carry out home visits, they have adapted their settling-in processes to ensure each child has a smooth transition into the setting. For example, staff hold telephone sessions with parents to gather information on each child before they start. They use this information to plan and adapt each child's settling-in sessions depending on children's individual needs.

Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, parents are unable to enter the nursery building. Staff now make greater use of electronic communications to ensure information about their child's progress, including their individual care routines, is shared effectively with parents each day.

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

• The newly appointed manager works in close partnership with the headteacher. They are both passionate and dedicated to their roles and share a clear vision for the setting. They speak confidently about their curriculum and how they have made changes to their planning to suit the needs of the children.
• Staff provide a range of activities to support children to develop and strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers in readiness for early writing. For instance, children curiously explore the sensory tray filled with play dough, leaves, and plants. They show concentration as they squeeze, poke, roll, and splat the dough between their hands.
• Staff develop children's self-care skills well. For example, they encourage children to drink from an open cup when they are thirsty and support them to wash their hands before mealtimes. However, routines such as getting ready to go outside and mealtimes become extremely busy and result in children waiting without anything to do for extended periods. During these times, children can become restless and their behaviour deteriorates.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents comment on the excellent progress their children have made since starting at the setting, particularly their personal, social and emotional development. Parents feel that the staff prepare children well for their next stage of learning. Staff use monitoring and assessments effectively to identify what children need to learn next and share these findings with parents.
• Staff use the outdoor space to enrich children's knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live in. Children are encouraged to use all of their senses to explore the natural environment. They gently feel the texture of different flowers and plants growing in the garden. Children giggle with excitement as they use watering cans to create puddles and streams for their friends to jump in. Staff utilise the open spaces to enhance children's physical development. For example, children squeal with delight as they run up and down grassy slopes. However, some children, particularly those young children who are not yet mobile, are less involved in outdoor learning. As a result, they become disengaged with their learning.
• The registered person failed to notify Ofsted about a change of manager within the required timescale. While this is a statutory requirement, on this occasion it did not have an impact on the quality of provision.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of daily routines to ensure the length of time children spend waiting does not have a negative impact on their behaviour
• ensure all activities, in particular those outdoors, are planned to match the developmental stage of all children, specifically the youngest children who are not yet mobile.