The Slade Early Years Centre and Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have created a safe, stimulating and welcoming environment in which children of all ages thrive. Staff adapt settling-in arrangements to the individual needs of children, and their families. This helps ensure children feel confident to join the 'nursery family'. This focus on making sure children feel safe and secure helps ensure children are ready to start learning and exploring right from the start. Children behave well for their age. Staff are good role models. They lead by example by being kind, courteous and helpful. Children learn from this to be these things too.

Leaders have developed a clear and ambitious curriculum, based on what they want children to learn during their time at nursery. Overall, staff are confident, and very effective, in delivering this programme of learning. They understand how important it is for children to develop into confident communicators. Staff thread high quality support for children's language development into all aspects of nursery life. They give a narrative to children's play that helps build children's vocabulary and understanding. They create cosy areas that encourage children to talk with each other, practising the words and phrases they have learned. Children have several opportunities each day to listen to stories and sing songs. Staff listen to what children say, and hold meaningful back-and-forth conversations with older children.

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

• Staff value the different life experiences, and abilities, children bring with them. Staff who work with children with special education needs and/or disabilities are clear about their role in giving children the extra support they may need. They focus well on helping them integrate into nursery life, make friends and benefit from the high quality learning opportunities on offer.
• Staff understand the value of repetition for children's learning. Staff plan well for this. For example, there is a programme of core stories that are read regularly and explored through role-play. The impact of this approach is seen in the confidence with which children can retell these stories and incorporate them into their independent play.
• Staff provide children with lots of opportunities to be physically active to help them develop a positive attitude towards following an active lifestyle. However, staff do not consistently teach children the skills they need to make the most of the opportunities available to climb, balance and manoeuvre. Staff understand their role in keeping children safe around equipment. They are less confident in how to make the most of these times to further extend children's physical skills.
• Children of all ages enjoy playing and learning together. Staff take care to ensure babies and younger children get the extra support, attention and care they may need. They use times when younger children sleep to offer older children extra challenging activities. Staff teach children to be empathetic and considerate towards each other. Older children show care and consideration towards their younger friends. They look out for them and include them in their play.
• Children's care needs are met just as effectively as their learning needs. Mealtimes are social occasions, used well to promote independence. Key-person arrangements are very effective in enhancing children's sense of belonging and safety. Staff meet children's intimate care needs with dignity and respect.
• Leaders have created a positive and happy working environment. The ongoing programme of professional development has helped staff develop confidence in their role as educators. The manager leads by example, consistently modelling high quality teaching skills through her own interactions with children. However, current arrangements for supporting staff practice do not always clearly identify any specific aspects of teaching or practice where individual staff need more focused support, to build further on their existing good teaching skills.
• Partnerships with parents are a real strength of the nursery. Right from the start, staff build meaningful relationships with parents and keep them very well informed about their children's progress. Staff offer specific advice, resources or suggestions that enable clear continuity of care and learning for children at home and at nursery. Parents share many examples of how this has worked for them and the impact on their children's progress. For example, parents appreciate the advice about how to best support children's developing vocabulary and understanding of acceptable behaviour.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop further staff's skills and confidence in delivering some aspects of the curriculum for physical development
• enhance arrangements to precisely tailor support for individual staff to continually develop their practice.