The Town Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff offer an extremely warm welcome to children and their families. There are lots of smiles on display as children arrive for the day and the warm bonds with staff are very evident. Staff do a very good job of making children feel safe, secure and that the nursery is 'their place'. Because children feel so settled they are able to approach their learning and play with confidence and enthusiasm. They are confident to explore, practise new skills and try out their own ideas, safe in the knowledge that staff will give them the time to do so but always be on hand to offer help or suggestions if needed. Children are developing very well into curious and inquisitive learners.

Children benefit from an interesting, ambitious and thoughtfully planned curriculum of learning. Staff clearly identify what they want children to learn and deliver this learning very effectively. Children are not rushed through their learning. This enables them to explore topics in great detail and the quality of the teaching leads to children developing a very secure understanding of what they have been taught. For example, children can talk confidently about the life cycles of bees and frogs. Older children can explain the roles of authors and illustrators in creating books.

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

• The manager leads her team of committed staff extremely effectively. There is a collaborative approach to developing the curriculum. This means that staff are clear about what they want children to learn next and are, therefore, able to focus their teaching very effectively on supporting children's learning.
• Children's physical development is extremely well promoted. Staff take great care about how they use furniture and resources to encourage babies to move in different ways. The outdoor space provides older children with rich opportunities to develop their movement and balance.
• Staff make learning memorable for children. This both helps ensure children remember what they have learned, and also helps children develop a positive attitude towards learning. For example, as part of their language and literacy curriculum, older children visit local bookshops, meet authors, create their own stories and make their own books. All children visit local food shops to buy foods to eat as part of their learning about their own and other cultures. They visit residential homes for the elderly to make new friends and learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and others.
• Children develop a love of songs and stories because staff deliver high-quality singing and story times. Younger children confidently join in with the words and actions to familiar songs. Older children retell the stories they have heard and talked about with staff.
• Overall, staff sequence children's learning extremely effectively, carefully adding to children's skills and knowledge. For example, they break down and teach all the different skills children need to be able to draw pictures of recognisable book characters. However, how to teach the curriculum for mathematics is less clearly defined by staff. This leads to children receiving less high-quality opportunities to develop these particular skills.
• Children show very high levels of emotional well-being. Staff work hard to create a homely environment and to replicate many of the experiences children would have at home. Staff involve children in preparing meals, hanging up washing and keeping the environment clean and tidy. Children learn well from these experiences to be helpful and considerate.
• Children are safe. Staff ensure the nursery is a safe environment. They teach children to stay safe on outings. However, staff have not fully considered how to incorporate the appropriate and safe use of technology into children's learning in order to further equip children with the skills they need to fully develop an understanding of their own personal safety.
• The manager has high aspirations for children and high expectations for staff conduct and performance. She nurtures both extremely effectively. Staff love working at the nursery and appreciate the support, advice and training they receive to do their jobs well. Children leave nursery with a wide range of skills and knowledge in preparation for their future learning. They also leave full of confidence about their own capabilities.
• Parents speak extremely positively about their children's experience of being at nursery. They hold the manager and staff in very high regard.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to fully embed the curriculum for mathematics, so children have more opportunities to develop their understanding of numbers, shapes and other mathematical concepts
• develop children's understanding of how to use technology purposefully and safely.