The Old Station Nursery St Neots

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly in this welcoming setting. They form warm bonds with staff and arrive eager to explore the day's activities. Staff have high expectations for every child and use their observations and assessments to plan targeted learning opportunities. Children make good progress from their starting points. They are eager to join in with activities and show curiosity in novel objects. Children are keen to learn about the natural world and explore different gardening tools as they help staff to plant and water the flowers. Children are helpful and learn how to take care of the resources and toys on offer. For instance, they help staff to pick up spilled pencils. Children say 'please' and 'thank you' and are supported by staff who are good role models.

Children play cooperatively and develop their social skills. They play a bat and ball game with their friends and take turns to put toy food into a miniature trolley while playing shops. Children enjoy a range of creative resources and practise their small motor skills. They squeeze and squash clay and help themselves to paper and pens. Children develop their small hand muscles and experiment with using different tools and making marks. This helps to support their future writing skills.

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

• The setting is led by an energetic and passionate management team. Managers place a high value on staff well-being, and staff report feeling valued and encouraged. Managers support staff to plan and deliver an ambitious curriculum based around children's interests. The team knows exactly what it wants children to learn at each stage. Staff support a positive transition for children moving on to the next step in their learning, such as the linked pre-school. However, self-evaluation and plans for improvement do not always focus incisively on areas that will generate the most impact.
• Parents praise the 'kind and wonderful staff'. They note how much children enjoy attending and that, at times, children reluctant to leave at the end of their session. Parents talk about the things that children have learned since attending, including new skills, as well as developing confidence. They report feeling well informed about their children's experiences and progress. Parents particularly appreciate how children can spend long periods playing in the garden and outdoor spaces.
• Staff provide a range of opportunities for children to practise self-care skills and be independent. For instance, they encourage babies to use spoons to feed themselves. Toddlers and older children practise using knives to cut up fruit for snack and to spread toppings on to crackers. Children of all ages freely access their water bottles throughout the day.
• Staff are active participants in children's play. They demonstrate a genuine warmth and sense of fun as they join in with chasing, role play and peekaboo games.
• Children have plenty of opportunities throughout the day to spend time outside and be physically active. They practise a range of physical skills, such as climbing ramps, navigating stairs safely and balancing on obstacle courses made of tyres and planks. Children delight in running fast and racing their friends. They play energetically and demonstrate resilience. For example, if they trip when running, they get back up and continue play.
• Children demonstrate a keen interest in books and reading. They bring books to adults and ask for them to be read. Staff read books with enthusiasm. They talk about the illustrations and encourage children to give their ideas about what might happen next or how certain characters feel. This helps children to understand key events in the story and develop their literacy skills.
• Children benefit from a varied, healthy diet at the setting, enjoying home-cooked food made by the on-site chef. Allergies and dietary needs are carefully catered for. Children enjoy opportunities to serve themselves from large dishes, and staff encourage them to try new foods.
• Staff provide children with lots of singing and speaking opportunities. However, at times, these are rushed or lack additional cues, such as actions or visual prompts, to help children hear words clearly and understand new vocabulary.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen arrangements for self-evaluation to generate sharply targeted plans for further improvements that make the most difference to children, families and staff
• support staff to refine how they use language when singing songs and holding conversations to build on children's listening, understanding and speaking skills.