The Old Station Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they feel happy and safe in this nurturing environment. They form warm relationships with their key persons and, as a result, children settle well and explore with confidence the range of engaging activities available to them.

Staff and leaders value each child as an individual who learns and develops at their own pace. Children learn key skills and are additionally supported with small-group work. This is to support attention and listening during 'wow time'. Children benefit from a curriculum that is tailored to their interests, inclusive of home languages and cultures. This allows all children and families to feel valued. Staff are well equipped to plan for children's next steps and seek parental contribution about the children's interests and assessments during child focus weeks.

Children benefit from a range of experiences that enrich the curriculum. Staff plan outings in the local environment to explore the stream and nature areas. Children are happy as they explore nature as routine practice. Learning comes to life, for example, by creating models of the houses from 'The Three Little Pigs' using natural materials.

Children behave well and learn to take turns. They are fully supported by staff to share resources, learn to empathise and regulate their emotions. Staff have high expectations of children as they are taught how to be independent, both in their play experiences and within the daily routine.

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

• Leaders communicate their vision for the nursery effectively. They endeavour for all children to make good progress at their own pace. Staff recognise the importance of tracking children's progress. They talk about and celebrate children's achievements, with particular reference to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Staff feel valued and say that leaders are considerate of staff workload. Leaders meet with staff regularly to monitor well-being and support staff's continued professional development.
• Children have many opportunities to further develop their physical skills. They use the outdoor area to throw, catch, balance and run. Staff coach the children through skills such as throwing and catching. They know when to step back and allow the children to practise the taught skills independently.
• Communication and language are well promoted in the baby room. Babies engage in rich back-and-forth interactions. They are introduced to new vocabulary, for example, when playing with play dough, staff say 'pull' and 'roll' while modelling the action to go with the word. This prepares babies for the development of their oral language.
• Experienced staff throughout the nursery provide plenty of opportunity for children to develop oracy skills. However, this is not always consistent among less-experienced staff. As a result, children do not always have opportunity to hear well-modelled language and learn new vocabulary.
• Staff communicate effectively with destination schools and between themselves. Children are well prepared for the next stages in their learning and transition to school. For example, children in pre-school develop their fine-motor skills in preparation for writing through activities such as 'dough disco' and name writing.
• Children have opportunity to practise their independence skills frequently and grow in confidence. For example, babies are supported to feed themselves, toddlers self-serve their lunch and pre-schoolers serve and choose their own food at a 'food bar'. Children feed themselves nutritional meals using cutlery and older children help with responsibilities such as putting away equipment.
• Children are given opportunity to take risks in their play when playing outside. However, when children make mistakes, they are not always informed of the reasons behind why certain choices are not suitable. As a result, children's learning of risk-taking is not always fully supported.
• Children behave well as a result of caring staff who support them to understand their emotions and self-regulate. In the toddler room, children are carefully supported when involved in a disagreement between other children.
• Partnerships with parents are central to the nursery practice. Staff regularly communicate with parents. The families are actively encouraged to make contributions to the nursery, including sharing recipes with the chef. This allows all children to explore cuisine from different countries. Parents 'cannot speak highly enough' of the support their children receive from the staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further develop children's language skills through rich discussions in order to best prepare children for the next stage in their learning
• strengthen how staff teach and explain risk-taking to support the children's understanding of learning from their mistakes.