The Old Potting Shed

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager organises a broad curriculum to meet the learning and development needs of all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The curriculum has a strong emphasis on children's personal, social, and emotional development. Staff use baby yoga sessions to provide a calm activity where babies develop strong bonds with their key person so that they feel safe and secure. Staff are consistently respectful to children and role model their expectations of behaviour. As a result, children behave well, are kind to each other and have very positive attitudes towards their learning.

Staff regularly observe children and make assessments of their progress so that they can plan activities to build on what children already know and what will interest them. Staff are always on hand to support and extend play ideas. For example, when children want to dress dollies, staff sensitively allow time for children to try to do this by themselves. This encourages children to persevere and practise new skills.

Baby room staff sing songs very clearly and use signs and actions to help babies understand the meaning of the words they hear. Babies learn to listen, imitate the actions and gain a sense of rhythm and rhyme. This helps develop their early communication and language skills.

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

• Staff support children's language development by extending conversations. For example, they talk to children who are playing with dollies about what real babies do and need. Staff skilfully read stories, allowing time to explore the pictures to help children understand, answer questions and make predictions. Staff link a picture of whale's teeth to extend what children know about looking after their own teeth. This leads to conversations about oral health, including visiting a dentist, and eating healthy food.
• In the garden, staff engage children in activities using clay and natural materials they had previously collected, such as petals, sticks, and sprigs of rosemary. The children learn that the clay is hard to push with their fingers, but they discover that it supports the sticks well. Staff tell them that the clay will harden if left to dry. The children are excited that they can take their creations home later and say they will do this by 'special delivery'.
• Children exercise their muscles by digging big holes in the mud and challenge themselves to transport heavy buckets of water in wheelbarrows. Young children sit on the ground learning to roll balls to each other. These opportunities help to develop children's physical skills very well. However, the outside area does not fully support all aspects of the curriculum to benefit those children who learn better outdoors.
• Staff promote children's independence skills well. For example, they encourage babies to use spoons when eating. Staff provide activities to further develop children's hand coordination. For example, the show them how to use pipettes to squeeze vinegar onto bicarbonate of soda to create 'fizzies' that children proudly show to their friends. This also helps children learn to do things by themselves.
• The curriculum focuses well on promoting children's healthy lifestyles. Children benefit from eating healthy foods provided by the nursery. Staff show children how to dispose of tissues hygienically and when to wash their hands. Staff teach children about recycling and caring for the environment. Children gain valuable experiences from walking around the grounds of the estate, including a wooded area, where they enjoy fresh air, explore nature and study the seasonal changes.
• Knowledgeable and experienced staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) very well. Staff work closely with parents and professional agencies to put in place targeted support to help all children make the best possible progress and prepare them for the next stage of their learning journey. Parents are pleased with the excellent communication and support they receive from the nursery.
• Leaders and managers share a positive ethos towards continuing quality improvement. They consistently offer excellent support for staff well-being and maintain high levels of training opportunities. This has resulted in staff using natural materials in children's play to provide more opportunities for them to use their imagination.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the curriculum in the outside areas to further extend the learning experiences of children who learn better outdoors.