The Nancy Harper Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children develop strong relationships with their key person and settle quickly on arrival. Changes to the drop off and collection arrangements, following the COVID- 19 pandemic, have not affected children. Staff greet children at the door and share important information with parents. Children put away their things, wash their hands and excitedly start their day.

Children have consistent opportunities to explore the well-resourced and attractive learning environment. Older children demonstrate high levels of confidence and independence as they move around the hall. They explore the wide range of resources accessible to them.

Children develop their physical skills well. They skilfully manoeuvre wheeled toys and transport objects around the nursery. Children build muscle strength and stamina as they pedal bicycles and ride scooters. Children choose books to share with staff. They use their imaginations well, for example, as they sell 'ice cream' to their friends, from the nursery ice-cream parlour. Children receive good support to recognise their physical needs. They manage their self-care well. Children show good table manners and confidently open containers and water bottles.

Children learn skills to help prepare them for their next stages in their learning. They recognise their own name during self-registration and confidently practise mark making on a range of different surfaces.

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

• Children access a varied curriculum that supports development within all areas of learning. Staff identify what children know and can do when they start at this welcoming nursery. Staff monitor children's progress through effective assessment and understanding of child development. The key-person system ensures that both staff and parents understand what children are focusing on next, so that their individual needs are consistently met.
• Staff know the children well. They know their likes and dislikes and use this information to plan activities. For example, children who like sensory play enjoy exploring a tuff tray of rice. Staff hold rice above them and make it 'rain' over their hands. Staff talk to them about how it feels, asking questions to promote communication and language skills.
• Staff place a strong focus on developing children's literacy skills and love of books. Children excitedly point out features on the pages and demonstrate a wide vocabulary. They recall that the author writes the book, and the illustrator draws the pictures. Children become enthralled as the story develops. They listen intently and begin to guess what will happen next.
• Children bring in their own healthy snacks, which they enjoy all together. This is a sociable occasion. Children and staff talk, and staff teach children about healthy eating and where food comes from. For instance, children enjoy growing foods from the nursery allotment.
• Staff are friendly and caring. They interact warmly during care routines, such as nappy changes, and offer comfort and reassurance to those who need it. Staff manage children's behaviour well. They sensitively help children to learn to recognise their feelings and emotions. Staff are on hand to provide support and talk to children about turn taking and sharing.
• Children have opportunities to develop early mathematics skills within their play, such as through board games. For example, they identify the numbers they spin and search for the correct number of spots on each dog. Older children begin to recognise the quantities and count each spot to confirm their guess.
• Staff interact well with children, so they become engaged as they explore and investigate the exciting activities on offer. However, when it is time for snack or to tidy up, children are not given time to prepare for this change in routine, or finish what they are doing. As a result, children rush to finish their creations, or experience frustration as they leave what they doing to move on to the next part of the day.
• The manager and staff team have created an informal arrangement for reflecting on their practice. However, the provider can do more to ensure there is a sharp focus on monitoring of performance. For example through peer observations and feedback on how the manager and staff can improve their teaching and practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed coaching and supervision arrangements for staff, including the manager, to ensure ongoing support is in place and raise the quality of teaching to the highest level
• support staff to review and plan children's transitions between activities and the daily routines, so that children can remain focused and engaged.