The Orange Tree Day Nursery @ Hucknall

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome on arrival at this inclusive nursery. They arrive excitedly and leave their parents with ease. Children are curious learners, who are keen to explore the stimulating environment. The youngest children show considerable concentration as staff involve them in interactive singing sessions. Babies pop bubbles, play peekaboo and bang on musical instruments. Toddlers explore wet sand using their fingers, spades and sieves. Less-confident children are supported by staff to take part. Older children develop their finger muscles as they use different tools, such as garlic presses and potato mashers, to create play dough shapes and patterns.

Older children develop their emotional literacy in the 'Zen Den'. Staff support them in expressing how they feel as they introduce children to words, such as happy, sad and angry. This also helps to support children who speak English as an additional language, contributing to their sense of security and belonging. Babies learn to crawl, toddle and climb small indoor apparatus. Toddlers ably climb and slide down ramps. The supportive staff encourage children to take turns to use the slide, which helps build on their emotional resilience. Older children learn how to handle tape measures as staff encourage them to take turns to measure and count how many bricks they need to build a tower. This helps to increase the muscle strength in their fingers and hands. The nursery has a purposeful atmosphere as children enjoy learning experiences appropriate to their age and stage of development.

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

• Leaders provide a creative and supportive culture that motivates and inspires the staff. They organise regular team meetings and involve staff in planning and identifying priorities for the nursery curriculum. Staff implement this curriculum to ensure sequential learning that builds as children move up the nursery. All staff maintain a performance development diary and complete regular online training to help further their knowledge and skills. Consequently, teaching is strong, and children progress well.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those on the pathway to diagnosis, are supported well. Staff build close and professional relationships with other agencies and parents. Additional funding is well used for all children to meet their needs and prepare them for future learning. Consequently, children with additional needs show good progress from their starting points.
• Staff act as strong role models for sharing and taking turns with others. They recognise children's achievements and continuously praise them for their efforts, boosting their self-esteem and confidence. However, at times, staff do not make the most of daily routines to support some older children's learning. For example, on these occasions, some children become restless while waiting for meals and snacks.
• Staff provide good support for children to develop their self-care skills. At mealtimes, children practise pouring drinks and serving food. Older children learn to use knives safely as staff help them to cut apples and pears and encourage them to keep trying when they find it tricky. Younger children learn to handle cutlery and are encouraged to look at their reflections in small mirrors while wiping their faces after eating. Staff provide excellent support, when children are starting to be toilet trained.
• Overall, the staff promote the children's communication and language well. They provide ongoing commentary for children's play and generally engage older children in age-appropriate conversations. Children of all ages enjoy singing and sharing stories. However, on occasion, staff sometimes talk in very long, complex sentences and forget to wait for children to respond to questions. Therefore, support for children to build on the range of words they know, and practise is less well established.
• Staff focus on outdoor learning and provide children with a broad range of experiences to support their interests. Older children develop physical skills, such as climbing trees in the secret garden and using small tools to plant seeds in the growing area. Staff support younger children to develop hand-eye coordination as they roll hoops and practise new skills using bats and balls.
• Staff carefully plan activities to build children's independence ready for school. For example, children collect and put on outdoor clothing and know to wash their hands after visiting the bathroom. However, staff interactions and direct teaching are sometimes inconsistent with their assessment of what children need to learn next. This is because, sometimes, staff do not adapt activities or their teaching to focus on individual children's learning needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to make better use of daily routines to enhance children's learning even further
• strengthen support for children to build on the range of words they know and practise to further their language skills
• develop planned activities and the support offered to children to ensure teaching focuses on their next steps in learning.