The Orchard Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show a clear sense of well-being and belonging to this family run nursery. When children arrive, they happily say goodbye to their parents. Children eagerly explore and investigate the good range of toys and activities that are available to them. Pre-school children's imagination and problem-solving development is supported well by staff. For example, children act out a familiar story about a troll. Staff pretend to be the troll. They encourage the children to independently work out the best way to run away from the troll. Children squeal with excitement. They successfully climb out of the way or go lower on the bridge to move out of the way from the troll.

All children from a young age enjoy developing the skills they need to make marks. Babies pick up objects and develop their small-muscle skills. Toddlers make marks, such as lines and circles with chalks, competently. Pre-school children demonstrate great skill as they complete self-portraits with pencils and paint. Children's artwork is attractively displayed around the nursery. Staff make sure children's contributions are valued to help promote children's self-esteem. Children demonstrate good manners. They put their hand up to speak at circle time.

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

• The provider and management team are passionate about ensuring positive outcomes for children. They support staff well-being very well through regular coaching and support. As a result, staff have remained at this nursery for a long time and are well-established as a team.
• The key-person system is strong, and children's emotional well-being is supported well by staff. For instance, when babies are initially settling in, staff quickly recognise that some of them may need extra reassurance and support. Staff provide babies with individual attention and reassure them with cuddles.
• Some staff demonstrate outstanding teaching. They motivate children through their inspirational interactions and captivate children's awe and wonder. However, other staff do not always engage children in the same way. Consequently, children do not always receive the highest level of teaching support to help them learn as much as they can.
• The manager has an effective curriculum in place. Staff know how to extend children's interests and curiosity further. They help children remain engaged and focused in their learning. For example, for children who show an interest in making tracks with diggers in the sand, later in the day staff provide further resources to extend children's skills in making marks. Children enjoy the activity as they experiment making marks with cars in the paint.
• Staff make sure children enjoy lots of fresh air and exercise to promote a healthy lifestyle. Children enthusiastically explore the spacious and well- resourced outdoor areas. Children have fun as they dance and sing and learn how to use a hula-hoop.
• Partnership with parents is effective. Parents speak positively about their child's experiences at nursery. They explain how their children are offered different experiences from what they already receive at home. For example, children have access to more water, dried cereal and paint activities to help to support their sensory development.
• Children's communication and language development is supported well. For example, during a story-time session, staff encourage pre-school children to recall words from a familiar story. Children call out words, such as 'chameleon' and 'invisible.' The children are articulate, demonstrating a good range of vocabulary.
• Staff plan activities that they know children are interested in and identify what it is they want children to learn. Children demonstrate curiosity and interest in their play. They develop their small-muscle skills during a water activity to fill and empty containers. However, at times, staff lose sight of what they intend children to learn. Therefore, children are not always challenged as well as they could be.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support less-confident staff to develop their interactions to inspire and excite children so that they can learn as much as they can
• help staff to understand how to support intentions for children's learning so that they are consistently challenged.