The Shutters Village Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in this friendly nursery. It is clear that children are at the heart of everything that staff do. Children are confident and sociable. They eagerly share their experiences with each other and adults as they invite others to join them in their play. Children engage in a wide range of opportunities. For example, older children concentrate intently as they take turns playing with a board game. Younger children enjoy exploring the paint and competently create marks on large sheets of paper. Staff introduce children to new words that describe their actions. Children repeat words such as 'splatter' and 'blend' as they play.

Staff have high expectations of children. As a result, children behave well. They are supported by caring staff. Older children help to create the nursery rules. This helps children to manage their own behaviour effectively, as they agree to act in a positive manner. Children are helpful to their friends. They assist each other to complete tasks, and they reassure and encourage others to try new experiences. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders have strengthened the key-person system. This means that every child has a meaningful relationship with at least one adult. This helps children to feel secure, especially those who struggle to separate from their parents.

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

• Leaders and staff plan and deliver a curriculum that is focused on each child's assessed developmental needs. Children gain new skills and show positive attitudes towards learning. They make progress and consistently build on their learning. All children can access the experiences on offer, as staff adapt activities to suit children's individual needs.
• Staff are enthusiastic and motivated. They are led by a passionate manager, who strives to provide a high standard of care and education. Leaders regularly monitor staff practice. However, feedback offered to staff does not always specifically focus on improving their practice to ensure that the highest quality of teaching is consistently achieved across the nursery.
• Staff sit with children and read interesting books. Younger children relish these moments and engage in lively conversations as they talk about the characters. Older children enjoy looking at books together, happily retelling familiar stories. Babies delight as they cuddle staff and enjoy learning new words from picture books. These experiences help to instil a love of reading in children.
• Children learn about people who help them. For example, children read books about the emergency services and enjoy imaginative play with a firefighter set. This helps children to develop respectful attitudes for those who help them. However, opportunities to learn about the culture of those attending the nursery are not yet fully established. This means that children's understanding of diversity in modern Britain is less well developed.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff verbally share information with parents at the start and end of the day. This helps parents to feel valued. However, parents do not always know what their children have been learning about. This means parents are not aware of how to support learning at home.
• Staff offer children nutritious foods, which helps them to learn about healthy food choices. Children also enjoy sociable mealtimes, as they sit and talk to their friends and adults. These experiences contribute to children's understanding of their health and to their social development.
• Relationships among staff are respectful. Staff comment how much they enjoy their jobs and are dedicated to the children in their care. Staff share responsibilities fairly between themselves. Children's needs are quickly met. Staff report high levels of well-being and feel happy that they are supported in their roles.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff practice more precisely and provide feedback to staff on how to consistently achieve the highest level of teaching
• enhance the curriculum to help children to understand differences and similarities between people, cultures and communities different to their own
• further develop partnerships with parents to focus on supporting them to help children learn at home.