The Psalter Lane Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make a strong start to their learning in this warm and nurturing nursery. Babies are helped to build strong bonds with the experienced staff and they smoothly settle into nursery life. Staff plan a rich curriculum that helps children to build on their strong start. Children make good progress overall and are well prepared for their future learning, including starting school. For instance, children learn to listen to each other and to share ideas as they mix their 'soups' in the mud kitchen and correctly name ingredients from the garden, such as 'rosemary' and 'lavender'.

Children feel safe and learn to behave well. They show concern for others. Children rise to staff's high expectations and are polite and considerate. For instance, they learn to take turns and be gentle as they let the stick insects they are learning to care for crawl along their hands. Staff encourage children to take sensible risks and to challenge themselves. Babies become increasingly confident to explore new sensory activities, such as cereals or rice. Older children learn to climb and balance on the extensive outdoor resources. Parents are very appreciative of staff's constant attention to their children's needs and the practical guidance they offer.

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

• Leaders and staff have created an effective curriculum to support children's learning over time. They weave learning through a good balance of well-planned and motivating activities. Staff encourage children to choose activities for themselves, and they lead some to develop specific skills and understanding. However, they do not consistently make the fullest use of their interactions with children to further extend and deepen their knowledge and understanding. For example, they do not consistently vary the questions they ask or show children further ways to use new skills more effectively.
• Staff strongly support children with SEND and those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged. They work actively with parents and with other professionals, such as speech therapists and inclusion teams, to ensure children's strongest achievement. Leaders make good use of additional funding to support the good attendance levels and provide experiences to help children's emotional well-being, such as sensory play.
• Staff very strongly promote children's communication and language skills, including those who speak English as an additional language. They make excellent use of carefully chosen songs and rhymes to help babies and children systematically build a knowledge of the sounds and rhythms of language and to remember key words and phrases.
• Staff make good use of books and stories to widen children's vocabulary and enhance their knowledge of the world. For example, they build children's reading experiences through the carefully chosen core books for each age group. Children have many opportunities to handle books and share stories with staff, who read to them in engaging and purposeful ways. Children's enjoyment of reading is enhanced by the lending library for parents, which includes first-language books for children who speak English as an additional language.
• The experienced and well-qualified leaders provide a clear vision for children's achievement. They support staff well to achieve this through strong teamwork and training opportunities. Staff morale is high as they feel their contributions are valued and their work is respected.
• Staff promote children's good behaviour and personal development well. Staff successfully encourage children to say 'please' and 'thank you' throughout their play and healthy snack times. They support children to make decisions and persist in activities. They skilfully help children who find it hard to manage their emotions to learn to play with others and control their behaviour.
• Staff help children to develop their physical skills. Babies learn to walk and balance in different circumstances as they play in the ball pool or run on the playground and grass in the extensive garden. Older children learn to throw and catch through well-planned games that also support accurate counting and number recognition skills. Staff provide progressively challenging yoga activities that help children to develop control and awareness of their bodies.
• Parents highly recommend the nursery. They very much appreciate the warm and caring attitudes that staff show towards their children and themselves. Parents particularly comment on the opportunities for children to be outside and develop their knowledge and love of the natural world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's interactions with children to more consistently extend and deepen their knowledge and understanding.