The Old School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the nursery. They have warm and affectionate attachments with staff and demonstrate that they feel emotionally secure. Children respond positively to praise and reassurance, which supports their emotional well-being.

Children are eager to learn, and they behave well. Older children understand concepts such as turn taking. For instance, they negotiate with their peers when playing with toy cars. Younger children are supported to learn to share. For example, when digging in the sandpit, they are encouraged to share the spades.

Children enjoy being active and develop good physical control while climbing on the soft-play equipment. They use a range of equipment outside that promotes balancing, such as stilts. Children are supported to develop their self-care skills well. They wash their hands before mealtimes, eat independently and pour their own milk. Children demonstrate good table manners and are kind, sociable and polite.

Babies are surrounded by lots of textures and sounds to stimulate their imagination. For instance, they happily touch different-textured materials and enjoy posting them into a box. Babies respond positively to staff as they talk to them. They crawl towards toys that interest them and pull themselves up to a standing position, using well-placed furniture.

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

• Staff support children's developing communication and language skills at every opportunity. They speak clearly and model good language. The children enjoy reading outside. Staff read stories with enthusiasm and use good questioning skills. Children ask lots of questions, which staff take the time to answer. Children develop good communication and language skills.
• Children are encouraged to count and recognise amounts and quantities. For example, staff help babies to explore shapes and count when building with blocks. Younger children learn about 'more' and 'less' when filling pots with sand. Older children talk about size, number and count in sequence during play. This enables them to practise and develop their understanding of mathematics with support from the staff.
• The key-person system is effective, and staff have a good knowledge of their key children and how to support their learning and development. They know their key child's starting points and plan pertinent next steps that are unique to each child's learning needs. However, at times, staff are not fully effective in planning and organising group times for the older children. On occasion, during these activities, children do not join in, and they begin to lose interest. This has a negative impact on the progress that they make.
• Staff plan opportunities to broaden the experiences children receive at home. For example, they arrange for the farm to visit the nursery to give children the opportunity to look at and learn about how to care for animals.
• Parents value the experiences that their children receive at the nursery and the close relationships that staff build with families. They comment positively on how the nursery shares their children's learning with them. Parents feel that the nursery provides a welcoming home-from-home environment.
• The leaders have a clear vision for the future and promote effective teamwork. They are committed to ensuring that staff are happy and feel supported in their roles. Staff benefit from regular team meetings and one-to-one supervision. The leaders provide ongoing coaching and support, which enables less-experienced staff to develop their knowledge and teaching skills effectively.
• Staff provide a stimulating learning environment for children of all ages. However, since repurposing one of the rooms, staff have not fully considered how to ensure that younger children can easily view and take part in their activities. This means that they do not always have the support and stability they need to fully enhance their physical movements.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are suitably supported. The leaders and staff work closely with parents and consult with other professionals to obtain the support children need. The provider uses additional funding appropriately to train staff and obtain resources to support children's learning and exploration.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the planning and organisation of large-group activities for older children, considering the needs and abilities of the children in the group, so that all are equally engaged, and their learning is maximised
• review the implementation of the curriculum in the younger children's room and ensure that all children can easily view and take part in their activities, to fully promote their physical skills.