The Syston Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are supported to feel emotionally secure in staff's care. For example, when new children start in the baby room and they become unsettled, staff sing nursery rhymes to them. When staff do this children give them good eye contact, helping them to form bonds with staff and to settle quickly. Children are supported to persevere and keep trying when they attempt to complete tasks. For example, when children in the baby room struggle to attach construction toys together, staff show them how to do this. They encourage children to have a go themselves. Children are encouraged to show positive behaviour. For instance, three-year-old children are chosen to be helpers of the day. Staff remind them what their roles are, such as to get coats for their peers and to set out place mats at lunchtime. This contributes to giving children a sense of responsibility.

Children in the toddler room are keen to engage in activities that staff plan to develop their memory. For example, staff hide toy animals under a blanket, take one away and ask children to remember what is missing. Children in the pre-school room are provided with opportunities by staff to follow their interests. For example, staff provide paper cups to enable children to revisit stacking them and to count the number they have used, supporting their counting skills.

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

• The management team support staff to complete training courses that help to develop their knowledge of how to help children to display positive behaviour. From this training, they make changes to help children to join in during tidy-up time. This includes showing children a sand timer, giving them a visual prompt to let them know how long they have to tidy away toys.
• The manager and staff place a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language skills. For example, staff encourage children in the toddler room to listen and to follow their instructions when the routine of the day changes. Staff in the pre-school room introduce new words to help children build on vocabulary. This includes naming equipment they have not used before, such as a mortar and pestle when children use this to try and squeeze juice from flower petals.
• Staff support children to build on their literacy skills. For example, in the baby room when staff show children books, they ask the children to point to images they see on the pages. Staff offer children in the pre-school room activities to role play favourite stories. For instance, children pretend to make cups of tea for tigers.
• The manager is aware that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, some children need further support with their independence and self-care skills. Therefore, staff help children in the baby room to feed themselves, offering them a spoon to use. Children who are over the age of two years old are given a knife and fork to use to eat their meals.
• The manager uses additional funding that some children receive effectively. For example, the money is spent on staffing to arrange for some children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to be taken for visits to the school they will be moving on to. This helps children to become familiar with the school environment and the teachers before they move on.
• Staff who have key-person responsibilities know their key children well and what they need to learn next. However, this information is not shared fully across the staff team. At times, staff do not recognise how to best help some children with their learning. This means that children are not fully supported by all staff to practise and develop the skills they need to learn next.
• Parents appreciate the information they receive from staff about their children's development. They say that children flourish in staff's care and develop confidence, independence and a love for learning.
• Staff help children to learn about attractions in their local community. For example, staff take children to a local centre to join in gymnastics to help to develop their core body strength. Staff arrange for children to visit shops, such as an opticians, to help to prepare them for medical appointments.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to understand what each child needs to learn next, to enable them to build more effectively on children's learning.